Aiveen and Mark’s colour scheme was pastel pink which was perfect for summer.
Couple: Aiveen McCarthy and Mark Murray
Length of engagement: 20 months
Wedding Date: 4 August 2018
Wedding location: The K Club
Photographer: The Fennells Photography & Film
Aiveen and Mark met at the Michael Smurfit Graduate Business School where they studied International Business. They were in the same class and were in a lot of project groups together. They got to know each other quite well as friends and got together about six months after they first met. They got engaged in the Marina Bay Sands hotel in Singapore. They were there on a staycation shortly before they were due to fly home to spend Christmas in Ireland. They always had a tradition of having a weekend away in early December and they decided to keep up the tradition after they moved abroad.
“We had just enjoyed a swim in the rooftop pool and were getting ready for dinner when the proposal happened. As it was Christmas, Mark got me several small gifts which each representing a year we had been together. Each gift was linked to a year of our relationship. For example, the gift for our second year together was a picture of us in the snow at Christmas time as we spent our second Christmas together in America with Mark’s family. Mark gave each of the presents to me in turn with the second to last present, being an engraved dog tag for our dog, Penny, who we got shortly after moving to Singapore. On the front was Penny’s name and then when I turned it over, it said ‘Will you marry me?’ on the back. As soon as I read it, Mark got down on one knee and I immediately said Yes, after which we spent a frantic couple of hours calling our family and friends back home to tell them the good news.”
“The planning phase was really enjoyable although we did have to be quite organised as we were living in Singapore, but getting married in Ireland. We had Skype calls with most of our vendors who were all terrific, as was the venue. We also took a lot of trips back home over the course of our engagement to get everything sorted. This was really nice, and it meant we got to involve our family quite a lot in the wedding planning. We were also extremely fortunate in that our families were incredibly supportive and helpful throughout the entire planning process and that really helped to ensure everything went smoothly.”
Aiveen and Mark’s colour scheme was pastel pink which was perfect for summer. They incorporated this in a number of ways including the flowers, bridal party attire, stationery, sashes on the back of the chairs, napkins and the envelopes for the party favours. They even had strawberry and vanilla ice-cream as a refreshment for the walk to the dinner venue and also had pink and white cupcakes at the drinks reception. They also tried to incorporate the theme of travel into the wedding. “As we’re based abroad, we thought this would be a good choice. We managed this by including Singapore Slings at the drinks reception, having a country-themed table plan and incorporating some signage and decoration relating to Singapore.”
Aiveen bought her dress at Myrtle Ivory and it was designed by Stephanie Allin. Before looking there, she had a couple of others in mind but as soon as she saw the dress she knew it was The One. Living abroad made doing the fittings a bit challenging but Myrtle Ivory had a lot of experience dealing with brides who aren’t living in Ireland and they were very accommodating with the fittings. Declan Chapple perfected Aiveen’s Hollywood wave, and Kate Hennebry did her makeup.
Mark and his groomsmen got their suits in Protocol Menswear in Dublin and the whole thing seemed to go very smoothly. He had no complaints and said the team there were brilliant to deal with. He couldn’t recommend them highly enough.
Aiveen’s bridesmaids’ dresses were designed and made by Bridal by Tamem Michael. Aiveen picked out a colour and from there they were able to design the bridesmaids dresses. “I couldn’t have been happier with the results. The girls looked amazing on the day and Tamem Michael were really flexible with fittings and adjustments and anything else that needed to be done.”
“Our ceremony was in St. Bridid’s Church Straffan. The church had just been renovated as a result of some flood damage and it looked fantastic. The priest was brilliant and gave the mass a really personal touch. Our florist also did an amazing job with the flowers in the church.”
“We picked out our venue shortly after our engagement when we were back home in Ireland at Christmas time. We checked out a couple of venues and nothing really caught our eye. Then we the saw The K Club and we fell in love straight away. After meeting Alina, the K Club wedding planner, that sealed the deal as from the first meeting, we knew we were going to be in good hands. We had a four-course meal which included an option between Buffalo Mozzarella or Prawns for the Starter, Soup, Beef or Sole for the Main Course and an Assiette of K Club Desserts.”
“Our photographers, The Fennells, came highly recommended by the venue. We reached out to them and set up a Skype call and we knew pretty quickly that they were who we wanted to go with. Mark and Fiona were both so nice and friendly and really put us at ease so picking them was an easy choice. We also loved the sample images which they showed us.”
“We wanted to maximise the amount of time we spent with our families after the wedding. With this in mind, we took a short trip to Sorrento in Italy for five days and then went down to Galway for three days with both of our families. Sorrento was beautiful and getting to spend some quality time with our families after the madness of the wedding was great. We also plan on spending Christmas in Sydney this year which should keep the celebrations going.”
Aiveen’s favourite part of the wedding day was seeing her fiancé at the altar with a big smile on his face.
“Try not to leave too much until the last week. Unexpected things will come up that you’ll need to handle during that period and if you have everything else sorted you can then deal with the unexpected things that pop up. Other than that, just focus on enjoying the day because it goes very quickly.”
