“Stephen took me to Paris for a weekend and we knew I couldn’t go away for the year. I ended up cancelling my tickets and I decided to stay in Dublin with Stephen… and we haven’t looked back since.”
Length of engagement: 19 months | Wedding date: 2nd July 2011
Wedding location: Church Ceremony Kiltyclogher, Co. Leitrim | Wedding reception: Radisson Blu Farnham Estate, Co. Cavan
Photographer: Wedding Photography by Tara Aherne
“I wore my late grandmother’s brooch on my dress and another in my hair, and my mum sewed a six pence piece into the hem of my wedding dress for good luck!”
We met… 10 years ago when I moved to Dublin to work in l’Ecrivain Restaurant where Stephen was Sous Chef at the time. We were just friends for the first year we worked together, but when I decided to go travelling for a year with friends, it was Stephen who offered to help me find a suitable rucksack for my trip. After that we started spending more and more time together and as the girls were going two months before me, it was at their going away party that we first admitted what a big crush we had on each other, so two weeks before I was due to leave, Stephen took me to Paris for a weekend and we knew I couldn’t go away for the year. I ended up cancelling my tickets and I decided to stay in Dublin with Stephen. I know I made the right choice because a couple of months later Stephen gave up his senior job as Sous Chef in l’Ecrivain so that we could go travelling together and we haven’t looked back since.
Our proposal… We had been together for seven years and we always talked about getting married, but we had just opened our restaurant in July 2009, so when we finally got a chance to take a week off after Christmas, I didn’t guess anything when Stephen suggested a trip to New York. Unfortunately, due to the snow, we got stuck in Dublin Airport for seven hours and with such bad jetlag, Stephen’s plans didn’t go as he wanted. When Stephen walked us half way around the city to Tiffany & Co, I still didn’t realise anything, until we got to the engagement ring counter. I think Stephen knew it was easier to let me pick my own ring, as I can be a bit particular, but he held on to the ring until he proposed. He then took me around the city, to lots of locations from my favourite film “Serendipity”. I was in suspense for most of the day, but it was that evening back at the hotel bar on the 10th floor, with a glass of champagne, and as we watched snow fall over the lights of New York City, Stephen finally got down on one knee, and proposed.
“We had two sets of wellington boots filled with wild flowers at the entrance to the Church, a little something to show I may live in the city now but I am a farmer’s daughter!”
Our DIY wedding… We made as many things as possible by hand including the wedding cakes, the invites and table plan display. This helped to save money and gave us lots of special memories of many evenings creating all the little extra personal touches. We dried rose petals from the garden for confetti and used handmade confetti cones and we also put together all the parts of our sweet table. I also wore my late grandmother’s brooch on my dress and another in my hair. And my mum sewed a six pence piece into the hem of my wedding dress for good luck. A family friend crafted willow branches into two large hearts for the church gates, which we decorated with ribbon and flowers. I also had a little locket with both my late grandmother’s photos attached to my wedding bouquet. We had two sets of wellington boots filled with wild flowers at the entrance to the Church, a little something to show I may live in the city now but I am a farmer’s daughter! At the hotel we had little baskets in the ladies toilets with hairclips, deodorant, nail files etc, as a little gift in case girls forgot things. And for the little kids we had little gift bags on their table, filled with puzzles and board games to keep them occupied.
Our ceremony… We married in St Patrick’s Church, Kiltyclogher, Co. Leitrim. This is the village Church, where my grandparents married and as a child I sung in the Choir for other village weddings, so it was very special to me.
My dress… I found my perfect wedding dress in Bridal Heaven in Swords, Co. Dublin. I gave myself plenty of time to look for the dress and I knew from wedding magazines that I should allow six months for it to be ordered. I had an idea in my head of what I would like with lace being one of the main details. As I wear a chef’s uniform everyday at work, which can be very unflattering on a girl, I wanted a dress which was elegant yet showed my female shape. I tried a few different styles in a few different stores, but it was the mermaid style that I preferred. Just before December 2010 I had managed to narrow it down to two dresses in a store in Dublin city and two in Bridal Heaven. I liked all of the dresses but none of them invoked the feeling that they talk of where you know it’s the one, so I presumed it was just a bridal myth. Unfortunately due to the snow over the Christmas period, I had to keep rescheduling with Bridal Heaven and I think it was meant to be, because when I finally did make it to the shop they had just received a few new dresses and after trying on the two I had liked, the ladies suggested one of the new dresses which they thought I might like… And that was it, I instantly knew that it was the dress for me. It had every detail I had felt the other dresses lacked. I ordered it there and then and when I saw it again two weeks before the wedding I was still as confident that it was the dress for me. My dress was by Alfred Sung and it was a mermaid ivory lace dress.
“We dried rose petals from the garden for confetti and used handmade confetti cones.”
My favourite part of the wedding day… We had a 40 minute journey from the Church to the hotel so we decided to wait to have the photos taken at the hotel. On the way to the reception we passed Lough McNean just outside the village of Blacklion, where my mum is from. Unknown to us, my mum and her friends had organised surprise photos at the lake, (Mum grew up on one side of and dad’s family are from the other side of the lake). It was a fantastic surprise to us, with mum’s friend’s two sons dressed as waiters and a bottle of bubbly on ice. We got some amazing photos and such fantastic memories. And another lovely memory is my dad’s speech, which was beautiful, we thought he might only say a few words but he had everyone laughing away and really helped to get the party started.
“I also had a little locket with both my late grandmother’s photos attached to my wedding bouquet.”
We chose our photographer because… After looking through many magazines for inspiration, I came across Tara Aherne‘s photos which stood out to me, and then when I met Tara at a wedding fair, we got on so well. I knew she would be so easy to be around, which is very important as you have to be with the wedding photographer all day – also the package she offered was excellent value! She was at my parent’s house from early morning and still going until about the 3rd – 4th dance, so we have so many amazing photos from all parts of the day. We also met with her at the hotel a month before the wedding for an engagement shoot. This helped to make us more comfortable in front of the camera and helped to speed the photos on the day of the wedding as we knew what type of poses and areas of the hotel we wanted in pictures. Tara then put one of these photos in a frame for our guests to sign on the wedding day. She helped to make the day relaxed but fun. She has also photographed two of our friends’ weddings, because everyone was so impressed with her work.
Our wedding theme/colours… We tried to keep as much of a relaxed country style feel to the wedding as possible, but it was the delicate details of the lace from my wedding dress that inspired my cakes, wedding invites and other little aspects. I choose black for the bridesmaids’ dresses as I felt it would suit the individual styles of the girls, as everyone loves a little black dress. My wedding flowers were in shades of pink.
“As I am a pastry chef and have been specialising in wedding/novelty cakes in the last few years, I knew I had to make my own wedding cake (I am in the process of setting up my own cake company so look out for the ‘Little Cake Girl’ in the next year!) My biggest problem was picking one style of cake so I did what any woman would do; I made them all.”
Our wedding cakes… I had three individual three tiered cakes. Each with a 10”, 8”, 6” layer and each decorated differently. The bottom tiers were fruit cakes, very kindly made by Stephen’s mum, as it is a tradition in the family. The top tiers were biscuit cake, but the middle tiers were dummy cakes, as there is only so much a bride can do with three cakes to make the week of her wedding! I handmade all the little flowers and details for each cake.
“We met with Tara at the hotel a month before the wedding for an engagement shoot. She then put one of these photos in a frame for our guests to sign on the wedding day.”
– On photographer, Tara Aherne
We chose our venue because… Within a month of getting engaged we started to look at hotels in Co. Leitrim and surrounding counties. The Farnham Estate Hotel in Co. Cavan stood out straight away. It had everything we were looking for; amazing grounds, a beautiful combination of old estate house with the modern hotel and brilliant staff. We are still so happy with our choice, because it was better then we could have imagined and thanks to about a million ‘Child of Prague’ statues left out by family and friends we ended up with amazing sunshine all weekend!
“The Farnham Estate Hotel in Co. Cavan stood out straight away. It had everything we were looking for; amazing grounds, a beautiful combination of old estate house with the modern hotel and brilliant staff.”
Our honeymoon… We spent a week in Mexico which was lovely, very relaxing, then five days in San Francisco where we found some amazing restaurants and five days in Las Vegas, which we have visited before. It’s a chef’s paradise with all the big name chefs from all over the world having restaurants there. We arrived there on Steve’s birthday so I let him have a little gamble.
Mypiece of advice for other brides… After we got engaged I started to buy every single wedding magazine in the shops for as much inspiration as I could get. I then put together a scrapbook of all the magazine clippings, pictures and ideas that best summed up the style of wedding we wanted. I have to say, this was such a help when it came to explaining my ideas to family and friends who helped, and also to suppliers like the florist and hotel.
Photos by Wedding Photography by Tara Aherne | By Karen Birney
