gGood morning, good morning! It is hurling down with rain today in Whitby, but I couldn’t be happier. I’m got home yesterday evening from a very rainy, windy but incredible and deeply inspirational few days out in Iceland, where I joined the mighty Nordica Photography to speak at their ‘Get Real Iceland’ workshop. Amazing. Just amazing. I’m feeling so fired up from the experience right now, but more on that soon. I’m keen for the moment to share the first wedding of the week with you after our biiiig server upgrade this weekend (incase you didn’t know, we’ve had to move to a bigger server to accommodate our visitor traffic levels and volume of archived content – the techy-geek in me is a very, very happy bunny this morning now that the process is complete – it’s resolved a lot of behind-the-scenes blogger headaches, that’s for sure!).
Cathy, a full time Mum and party time artist/holistic therapist tied the knot with Project Manager Osgar on 22 April this year at Ballybeg House in Co. Wicklow. These photographs were sent in by The Lou’s – formally known as ‘Blackbox Photography’ – and who are used to making appearances on Love My Dress®. I really love this wedding – not least for the fact that Cathy wears a 70’s vintage dress now (pick up a copy of any fashion magazine right now and you’ll see strong 70’s influences gracing the catwalk after the recent round of international fashion week events). I also love the other personal touches to this wedding – the fact that Osgar wore the same suit his father wore on his own wedding day and the way the couple allowed their spirituality to shine through on this beautiful day.
Photography Copyright (c) 2014, The Lou’s
“Myself and Osgar are more spiritual people then religious so we wanted to have our wedding ceremony in a special place that was not a Church. My sister had a humanist ceremony the year before us and it was such a beautiful ceremony that we knew that we wanted to have the same.
The ceremony room in Ballybeg House is quite a special place with an almost medieval feel about it. Even though I hadn’t consciously thought about it, I ended up choosing a vintage dress that matched this style.
From hereon, all the elements fell into place. Osgar wore his Dad’s vintage wedding suit and we styled our wedding invitations and stationery to complement the overall aesthetic.”
“My wedding dress was a vintage dress made in the 70’s that I bought in Dublin in a shop called Dirty Fabulous. Dirty Fabulous is an original vintage boutique in the heart of Dublin which specialises in beautiful bridal and occasion wear from the 1920’s to 1960’s and beyond. They have a hand-selected collection that spans over one hundred years of dazzling fashion.
All the pieces are unique so you know you getting something very special – which was just what I wanted!”
“I always knew I wanted a vintage dress and once I tried on this dress, I knew it was the right one for me. Even though I hadn’t really tried on many dresses I think I knew straight away that this was the one! – and it fitted me perfectly (which always helps!) I loved that it was elegant, slightly traditional in colour and had long sleeves too. It felt unique.
Once I added the accessories (vintage necklace, birdcage veil and feather head piece) it transformed the look again and the dress became really quite special – and lets face it – who doesn’t want to look special on their wedding day!”
“Dominique from Pairs and Peaches did all the flowers for the venue and for the bouquets. We opted for a selection of different white flowers in small vases to go on the tables, along with big bunches of babys breath that hung from the chandeliers. In the house itself we went for a selection of colourful Spring flowers – again in different vases.
My bouquet was made up of mostly white roses with green foliage. I wanted something quite simple, feminine and slightly vintage to match my dress.”
“Osgar wore his Dad’s four piece wedding suit. This was quite special to Osgar as his Dad died eight years ago. His mum happened to be clearing out her house as she was moving and came across the suit – Osgar tried it on and it fitted perfectly. We bought a new tie to go with it but everything else belonged to his Dad. This was a really special element to our wedding as Osgar was very close to his Dad and we both would have loved him to have been there on the day.
His tie was by Fox and Chave and from their V&A collection.”
Those sparkly shoes by the way are from Aldo.
“We both agreed that getting the right photographer was one of the most important aspects of our wedding. When we began to research, we both fell in love with the work of ‘The Lou’s’ (who were formerly known as ‘Blackbox Photography’). We loved their style – which is very creative, unobtrusive and natural. We were very excited when they agreed to travel from Northern Ireland to come photograph our day. Both Lou and Louie were just amazing on the day and weren’t intrusive at all. In fact as the day went by we really loved being photographed as they made us feel really at ease.
They were both so friendly and enthusiastic and having two photographers was also such a big bonus, especially as we were both getting ready in different houses. We were so excited when we finally got to see the photographs of the day and we are so happy with them as they tell the whole story of our wedding day, capturing everything – including some crazy dance moves!”
“It’s thanks to my sister that we met! Osgar went to college with my sister and was a close friend of her boyfriend at the time. It just so happened that one night I met up with my sister in town and we joined a few of her friends to go see a band playing. That was when I met Osgar for the first time.
We just seemed to really connect on a level that I can’t really describe. There was a lot of dancing that night and cliché as it might sound I suppose we found each other that night – on the dance floor! That was five years ago and since then we’ve grown closer and closer.”
“We’ve been though a lot together despite our relatively short time together, including having our son Logan two and a half years ago. I think we both knew from that first night we met that we had found something special in each other. We got engaged over three years ago.
Osgar surprised my by taking me to one of my favourite places – the cliff walk in Howth and getting down on one knee to propose with a beautiful diamond engagement ring! Surprised and excited, I knew there was no other answer but yes!”
“We chose Ballybeg House in Co. Wicklow as the place we wanted to celebrate our wedding. We were looking for a venue that was both special, unique and had everything on site (including a special ceremony space). Wicklow has always been a magical place for me. I grew up on the Southside of Dublin near Wicklow and as a child I regularly went on day trips and walks to Wicklow with my family.
We were both excited when we heard about Ballybeg House and had a look at what they had to offer.”
We organised a trip down to view the venue and there we met Paddy O’Toole who owns Ballybeg House. He is very proud of his former home and was delighted to show us around and tell us all that Ballybeg has to offer as a wedding venue. He kept insisting that Ballybeg is to be treated like a home from home and that aspect really appealed to us. We also liked the idea that you rent the entire property (which includes Ballybeg House, Grouse Lodge and Courtyard rooms)for three days which meant we could make the celebrations last a little longer!
Ballybeg House is unique because you hire the venue without any staff, allowing you to have exactly what you want for your day. We decided to hire Dominique and Tee who own Peaches and Pairs who specialise in working in Ballybeg House – organising staff, flowers and generally anything that needs looking after in the house on the day. It was their job to make sure everything ran smoothly on the day itself, which it did! They gave us a few ideas in the planning stages, names of suppliers etc but mostly we chose and organised everything for the day ourselves.”
“All in all we fell in love with the place as soon as we saw it. I especially loved the Ayers ceremony room. It has a real medieval feel about it complete with stone walls, Harry Clarke paintings and lit solely by candles and fire light.”
“I wore a vintage bird cage veil from Dirty Fabulous along with a vintage feather and pearl comb and heart shaped pearl vintage necklace – all from Dirty Fabulous.”
“My bridesmaid, my sister Suzy, wore a stunning fishtail navy vintage inspired dress by Adrianna Papell which I bought in House of Fraser.”
“My Dad walked me down the aisle and ‘gave me away’ to a piece of music called ‘Renaissance Dance’, which Brian Keary played on his classical guitar. We found Brian, a classical guitarist online and thought he would be perfect to play at our ceremony as it tied in with the medieval feel of the room. Brian is a very talented musician and we were both honoured to have him play at our wedding.”
“We had a Humanist ceremony and Brian Whiteside was the officiator. He was so relaxed and he made the ceremony really special. The Humanist ceremony is such a beautiful ceremony anyway as it is all about the couple so there was very little we wanted to change. We added in a ring warming ceremony which is a nice touch.
Both our rings were passed around to all our guests who were invited to give them warm wishes in whatever way they wanted before passing them on.”
“We had two reading/poems in our ceremony. Brian sent us a list of suggestions and these were the two that we connect with the most. They are both quite beautiful.”
‘Today is a day you will always remember,
You’ll start off the day just two people in love
The greatest in anyone’s life;
And end it as husband and wife.
It’s a brand new beginning, the start of a journey,
With moments to cherish and treasure;
And although there’ll be times when you both disagree
These will surely be outweighed by pleasure.
You’ll have heard many words of advice in the past,
When the secrets of marriage were spoken;
But you know that the answers lie hidden inside
Where the bond of true love lies unbroken.
So live happy forever as lovers and friends
As you stand there together with love in your eyes
It’s the dawn of a new life for you;
From the moment you whisper “I do”.
And with luck all your hopes and your dreams can be real
May success find its way to your hearts;
Tomorrow can bring you the greatest of joys
But today is the day it all starts.’
Second reading:
‘True love is a sacred flame
That burns eternally,
And none can dim its special glow
Or change its destiny.
True love speaks in tender tones
And hears with gentle ear;
True love gives with open heart
And true love conquers fear.
True love makes no harsh demands,
It neither rules nor binds.
And true love holds with gentle hands
The hearts that it entwines.’
“I love my rings! My engagement ring is a pretty diamond vintage style ring so we matched the ring with a half diamond wedding band. We bought our rings in Appleby’s in Dublin where we were really looked after by Catherine who works there. She made us feel very special.”
“As Ballybeg is a home from home we thought it would be nice to have a few photographs of our families in one of the reception room. We decided to display framed photographs of my parents and Osgar’s parents from their wedding day. ”
“The food was another element for us that was quite important and we weren’t disappointed – we hired Molly’s Larder – it was all so delicious. We served two different options for our starters and deserts and suggested our guests keep, swap or share them. Mains were selected by the guests when they RSVP’d to the invitation. I think it’s fair to say that all of guests enjoyed their meal.”
“Initially we weren’t going to have a cake, then I came across The Cake Cuppery’s website and I was blown away! I fell in love with the style of cakes and what is more amazing is that Kat does all the baking and decorating herself at home – a very talented young woman. In the end we asked her to do a pearl glamour cake which consisted of two tiers. The top tier was covered in ‘pearls’ while the bottom layer was plain with just a line of pearls at the bottom the duck egg blue colour matched our invitation— it was also decorated with two sugar roses which were very impressive.
After a few tastings we opted for a raspberry red velvet cake which tasted amazing and we thought the contrast of the pale outside and the red inside would also add a bit of interest.”
“We opted to go for a first dance that included all our special guests and got everybody up on the dance floor not just the two of us. For this reason we chose ‘Happy’ by Pharrell Williams.”
“After dinner, DJ Aidan Kavanagh played chart music for 6 hours and I don’t think the dance floor was ever empty! He played at my sister’s wedding and he was brilliant at choosing the right music and making sure people stayed dancing. We met with him before the wedding and gave him a list of all the songs we liked and thought would be good floor fillers.
Dancing was a very important part of our day. Osgar and myself (along with our friends) love dancing and Aidan didn’t disappoint with making sure we never left the dance floor!”
“It’s hard to chose a favourite part of the day because it was all so amazing! I will always remember the intense feelings I had at seeing Osgar at the top of the aisle waiting for me.. tears in his eyes. I loved feeling so special, loved and just being surrounded by all our friends and family.”
Words of Wedded Wisdom…
“Use websites and wedding blogs such as this one to get ideas! Pintrest is good for getting ideas of what you would like your wedding to be like – from the dress to the decor. You can pick a lot of ideas up and even if you don’t end up getting exactly the same thing it will make it easier knowing what you like and want and then you should chose things quicker.
Be organised and it’s never too early to send out invitations and don’t give your guests a long time to R.S.V.P.
Websites such as Weddingface are great for managing your guests and more importantly your budget. Tabletopper is also another good one for helping to do the dreaded seating plans.”
What a beautiful, elegant day. Feeling so privileged again this morning that we get to share beautiful photography (thank you The Lou’s) and wonderful love stories on this blog – congratulations to you both Cathy and Osgar.
I hope this wedding has lifted your morning as it has mine – see you again a little later today for more.
Love Annabel x
Photographer – The Lou’s
Venue – Ballybeg House in Co. Wicklow
Wedding Dress – 1970’s original via Dirty Fabulous in Dublin
Headpiece + Accessories – Dirty Fabulous
Brides’ shoes – Dirty Fabulous
Groom’s Attire – Vintage (belonged to his Father)
Bridesmaids – Adrianna Papell via House of Fraser
Flowergirls – Monsoon + necklace by No.1 Jenny Packham
Young males – Monsoon
Flowers – Pairs and Peaches
Cake – The Cake Cuppery
Entertainment – Brian Keary + DJ Aidan Kavanagh
Rings – Appleby’s in Dublin
Catering – Molly’s Larder
Stationery – DIY, designed by the bride
Hair Stylist – Michelle O’Hare
Makeup Artist – Valerie Wood (Dublin)
Annabel View all Annabel's articles
Founder of Love My Dress. Passionate Podcaster and Editor. Annabel lives in rural North Yorkshire with her husband and business partner Philip, their two daughters and menagerie of furry hounds. She loves photography, meditation, walking, being outdoors and star gazing. She is fierce when it comes to championing talent within the wedding industry and when she's not working on Love My Dress, she supports her husband Philip in the running of the family's sustainable flower farm and floral design business, Moonwind Flowers. In 2013, she became a published author.
