Ciara and Simon’s love story unfolded beautifully at the enchanting Ballynahinch Castle in Connemara, Ireland. Their July wedding was a perfect blend of modern romance and timeless elegance, with Ciara stunning in a gown by Danielle Frankel.
Surrounded by the breathtaking Irish landscape and the castle’s historic charm, their celebration was both intimate and personal, reflecting their deep connection to Ireland.
The day was captured exquisitely by photographer Chris Copeland, whose candid, emotive style brought the couple’s joy and love to life. From wildflower arches in the Walled Garden to the soft Irish melodies that filled the air, every detail was a testament to Ciara and Simon’s vision of a day that was uniquely theirs.
Changes Are Coming!
Did you know that we’re very busy redesigning Love My Dress ready for a relaunch? We’re making big changes that we’re really excited to share with you, including the ability for you to create your own Love My Dress account and save all your favourite real weddings and articles, shop items and soon to be improved directory listings to your own easily accessible dashboard. Subscribe to our newsletter to stay in the loop.
Did you know that we also have a shop full of hand-picked designs and curated categories that we know you’ll love? From bridal gowns, to bridesmaids dresses, veils, shoes, jewellery, hair accessories, bags – even gifts for newlyweds.
Explore more designs in our shop
The Night Before…
We knew right away we wanted to be married back home in Ireland and we quickly decided on Ballynahinch Castle as our wedding venue. It’s a beautiful, heritage-filled castle in Connemara and is surrounded by incredible beaches and mountains for our guests to explore across the weekend.
The castle also has its own Irish pub on site, the Fisherman’s Pub, where we hosted our dancing and party on both nights.
When we visited the venue, I fell in love with the Walled Garden on the castle’s grounds and knew I wanted this to be the centrepiece of our wedding weekend. Our ceremony took place there under wild flower arches and we took inspiration from the flowers, fruits and vegetables grown in the gardens across all of our wedding styling. Our menu also used only locally sourced ingredients, including produce grown in the gardens.
I also purchased my wedding dress very early on in the planning process and wanted the rest of the wedding to match the style of it. It was a boho style dress with long tulle sleeves by New York designer Danielle Frankel, so our flowers and styling were fresh and wild to match that.
Bridal Beauty & Accessories
I wore a simple veil with a blusher, also from Danielle Frankel that matched my dress. When I took off the veil, I pinned a few wild flowers into the back of my hair that our florist, Wild Bunch Flowers, pulled together for me.
My shoes were classic Manolo Blahnik heels in white. After the wedding, I got them dyed a darker colour so I can continue to wear them after the day. I wore earrings from Sophie Bille Brahe – they were simple pearl drop earrings called the Botticelli design from the designer.
My hair and makeup was done by Michelle Grimes and Aoife Callaghan. I wanted simple hair and makeup so had my hair down in loose waves. I wore Baccarat Rouge by Maison Francis Kurkdjian – it’s the scent I wear every day and I wanted to keep it the same for the wedding.
My bridesmaids chose their own dresses in a mix of pastel colours from designers such as Emilia Wickstead and Taller Marmo. I loved the look of the different dress colours and styles together.
The Dress
Danielle Frankel
I purchased my wedding dress directly from the designer, Danielle Frankel, as she was doing a trunkshow at a hotel in London. I love her style which is a modern take on wedding dresses and could have worn any of the dresses I tried on!
I ended up getting the original dress I had booked the appointment for, the Ruby dress, and the matching veil.
I loved my wedding dress as I felt it was classic but also had a boho and laidback style which was perfect for getting married in the gardens at Ballynahinch.
I was also so glad I decided to get a party dress (a very last minute decision the week before!) as it was a really fun moment changing into it and allowed me to enjoy the dancing part even more.
The Ceremony
I walked down to Can’t Help Falling in Love, sung by Steph Healy and accompanied by violin. My page boys walked up the aisle throwing petals, followed by my bridesmaids. I was then accompanied by my dad down the aisle, through the flower arches in the gardens at Ballynahinch.
Our celebrant was Siobhan Manning, who wrote our love story after speaking to us both separately about our relationship. This became the centre of the ceremony and spoke about all the things we loved about marrying each other and added a real personal touch.
We had two readings and one poem during our ceremony. The first was a reading from the Song of Songs, read by Simon’s mother. This was the reading from Simon’s parents wedding ceremony nearly 30 years before so was a very special moment.
My brother read Scaffolding by Seamus Heaney which he chose. My dad also recited a Seamus Heaney poem in his speech, which was very fitting as the poet was a regular visitor to Ballynahinch Castle.
My aunty Elizabeth read the reading from the first letter of St Paul to the Corinithians, which is my favourite reading.
My wedding ring was from Sophie Bille Brahe, the same designer as my engagement ring. Sophie’s designs are like pieces of art and definitely not traditional but I love that they are so different. Simon’s ring was a simple gold band from Tiffany & Co.
Find More Wedding Readings
Photography
Our photographer was Chris Copeland who I found on Instagram and immediately fell in love with his style of photography. We both loved the way he captured the atmosphere and emotion of all the weddings he shot and his candid style of photography.
Chris was amazing across the whole weekend – he brought such positive energy and made us feel at ease straight away. He captured all the love and joy from the day perfectly and we couldn’t recommend him enough.
My favourite part of the day was the drinks reception straight after the ceremony, overlooking the Owenmore River in front of the castle. We had the most beautiful weather (very unexpected for the West of Ireland!) and jazz playing whilst we met all of our guests. My father also did his speech from the terrace which was a really beautiful moment to cap it all off.
How They Met
We met at university in Trinity College in Dublin. We got engaged six years later in Paris at Christmas time. The proposal was at Hotel Costes, my favourite hotel in the city. Simon surprised me with a trip there and also flew my family to a surprise celebration dinner in Dublin the week after.
We were engaged for eighteen months before our wedding day as we knew we wanted to get married in the summer back home in Ireland.
Simon wore a navy velvet tux from Cad and the Dandy on Saville Row in London. He created a bespoke tux with the team there which was a very fun process. Simon wore vintage cufflinks that were passed down by his great grandfather and that his dad had also worn on his wedding day.
The Reception
Our wedding planner, Kate at Love & Gatherings, styled the venue with things such as baskets of flowers dotted around the venue and candles leading up to the doorstep of the castle which I think really made the weekend feel special.
Our flowers were from The Wild Bunch as I loved the wild and fresh style of their arrangements. I especially loved the way that they styled our wedding ceremony in the Walled Garden at Ballynahinch and weaved flowers into the arches which framed the aisle.
Our cake was from local company Sandra’s Cake House – we chose a simple style of cake with flowers to match the main wedding aesthetic.
We worked with Hanya Carter – who created custom designs for our invite and on the day stationery. She took inspiration from the gardens at Ballynahinch and illustrated flowers and fruits that grow in the walled garden across everything. We also added some really fun touches like custom match boxes and napkins at the reception.
Evening & Dancing
We wanted to have some traditional Irish artists as well as a party band for the wedding. On the Friday night, we had a harpist playing at the welcome drinks reception and then the Hogan Duo played in the Fisherman’s Pub for the evening party.
On the main wedding day, Steph Healy was our ceremony singer accompanied by violin. The Bentley Boys – – played jazz at our drinks reception and were our main band for the dancing in the evening also.
Our first dance was to ‘You to Me are Everything’ by the Real Thing. This is one of our favourite songs and it also set the tone for the rest of the night.
Words of Wedded Wisdom
My advice to others is cliché but really try and take it all in as it goes so quickly. I took a 10 minute break from the day just before the wedding dinner with my maid of honour back in my room so I could take a deep breath and decompress a bit!
Having a few breaks and quiet moments across the day really allowed me to take it all in.
We got very lucky with the weather on the day and the wedding ceremony outside in the gardens was perfect. However I had done very little preparation for a ‘plan B’ ceremony if it had been raining, which made us slightly nervous the night before as a storm hit!
Getting Married?
Explore our recommended supplier & venue lisings
Additional Credits
The below suppliers and venues are featured in this article, but are not part of the Love My Dress Wedding Directory.
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.
