Sarah and John-Paul at the Cliff Townhouse, Dublin by Clique Photography.
The Couple: Sarah Murphy & John-Paul Williams
Length of Engagement: Three Years Wedding Date: 1st June 2012
Ceremony: Sir Patrick Duns, Grand Canal Street, Dublin Reception: Cliff Townhouse, St Stephen’s Green, Dublin 2
Photographer: Gina Brocker, Clique Photographic
Edited by Karen Birney
We met… To begin with, in primary school! We had come in and out of each other’s lives since then and found ourselves working together in 2004 when I got back from Australia. After a few cinema dates, as ‘friends’, I earned his respect by giving him a royal beating in Scrabble one night. And that was that.
Our proposal… We got engaged in Ontario, Canada in June 2009 while on holidays visiting family. One beautiful son later and we finally got hitched in 2012!
My bouquet… At some point in my research, I came across a bridal shoot and the model was holding a brooch bouquet. Carrie from Best of Buds was listed as the supplier so I contacted her immediately. I gathered old brooches and earrings that belonged to my mother and my grandmother and even got a set of pearls to use from my mother in law. Carrie kept me up to date while she was putting it together by sending me pictures of the progress and correcting anything I wasn’t happy with (which wasn’t much). She has an amazing eye and an incredible talent. It’s worth looking into if you have any old jewellery hanging around… lovely to have as a keepsake and someday an heirloom.
Our ceremony… Short and sweet! The traditional church ceremony wasn’t our thing so we opted for a civil ceremony in Sir Patrick Duns on Grand Canal Street. We got all the kids involved in the ceremony to make it fun and the registrar made it more special than we’d ever anticipated. We invited all of our dinner guests (50 in total) to the ceremony also, so it was lovely to have them there to share it with us. Would highly recommend a registry office wedding, all the guests commented on how it much fun it was and how it’s great to have the formalities over so quickly, but yet still feel very special.
My dress… I quickly discovered that I am not the kind of girl that enjoys traditional wedding dress shopping. I found the whole experience exhausting and humiliating and struggled to find one dress that I liked, let alone “loved”. Then I stumbled across the London based designers Belle & Bunty online and discovered that Pamela in Vintage Bride stocked their dresses. I loved all of them but particularly fell head over heels about the 1930s inspired “Belle” dress. It was quite literally that moment where I knew I had to have it as soon as I tried it on. Pamela turned a nightmare dress hunt into the most fun I’ve ever had with clothes and had amazing suggestions on styling the dress. I would highly recommend a trip into Vintage Bride if you’re looking for something different. She stocks an amazing selection of vintage inspired and original vintage bridal dresses.
Our wedding theme/colours… As soon as the dress was picked everything seemed to take on a Parisian/Art Deco/1930s theme. The colour palette became pink with black and white, art deco font seemed the most appealing and even the cake (Croquembouche) took a Parisian twist.
Our venue: The private dining room in the Cliff Townhouse is an incredible venue with old Georgian balcony, windows and high ceilings so we didn’t need to do much with the room except decorate it with Baby’s Breath arrangements supplied by Mark in The Garden, Powerscourt.
My favourite part of the wedding day… Speeches! Having a small wedding meant it all felt so intimate and real. There were poems, jokes, standing ovations and a lot of tears!
My piece of advice for other brides… If tradition is not important to you then do whatever suits yourselves. It’s YOUR day. Don’t divulge too much information either during the planning process…people tend to give unwanted advice! Also, take some time out on the day for just the two of you… it all goes so fast!
Our honeymoon… We decided to go to Paris after the wedding just the two of us for a child-free mini-honeymoon!
