“I brought Christmas crackers to a wintry picnic by the lake in Glendalough… When Nicola pulled hers, a ring and a note saying “will you marry me?” popped out! “
The couple: Nicola & Maurice
Length of engagement: 9 months | Wedding date: 21st September, 2013
Wedding venue: BrookLodge & Macreddin Village, Aughrim, Co. Wicklow – www.brooklodge.com
Photographer: Konrad Kubic Photography – www.konradkubic.com
We met… We met at the balcony upstairs in Whelan’s. I was looking for my friends and Maurice sidled up to me. The first words he said to me were “you should jump” – luckily I didn’t –I laughed a lot! We joked and chatted together for the rest of the night and the spark was kindled.
Our proposal… I proposed to Nicola by the lake in Glendalough in December. I brought Christmas crackers to the wintry picnic and when Nicola pulled hers, a ring and a note saying “will you marry me?” popped out. She almost forgot to answer but when she did, the gathered ducks and I were delighted.
My hair and make-up… My hair, my bridesmaids’ hair and my mother’s hair was done by Michelle O’Hare. Our make-up was done by Nicki Buglewicz. I cannot recommend them both enough. They were both so accommodating and extremely talented. Nicki agreed to do my mother’s make-up at the last minute when my mother decided she wanted to have hers done after seeing how well Nicki had done ours. Also, Michelle even fixed my dress by sewing a last minute addition on to it a few minutes before I went to the ceremony!
What our bridal party wore… Maurice wore a tan Van Heusen suit with a grey waistcoat from Dorian Black suits in Dublin and a yellow striped bowtie. The men wore tan suit trousers and the same grey waistcoats with pink bowties. They also wore braces under their waistcoats. The ladies wore full length dresses from Coast and the flower girls wore ivory dresses and hair bands created by my sister-in-law.
My dress… My dress was a Grecian-style, single-shoulder gown from La Sposa, B-Couture in Arklow.
Our ceremony… We designed our ceremony and it was held in the BrookLodge chapel with Maurice’s father officiating. Our main priority was to involve family and friends as much as possible. Our nieces and nephews walked down the aisle in their own unique fashion! Two of our friends sang and others read. It was a lovely, warm and humorous experience. We’ll never forget the big cheer we got from our friends and family after we kissed.
We chose our photographer because… We chose Konrad Kubic because candid/reportage style shots were important to us and having seen the work of a few photographers, Konrad’s capturing of movement and life in scenes appealed to us the most. On the day Konrad caught so many lovely moments that we would have missed otherwise, we’d recommend him highly.
We chose our venue because… We loved the overall setting of the venue in Macreddin Village with the dogs and chickens wandering around and the river running by the chapel. One of our priorities was keeping the guests together as much as possible, and because the bar and dance floor are in the same room, and smoking area opens on to the dance floor, people stay close all night with the added bonus of the dance floor seeing a lot of action!
We chose our wedding coordinator because… The wedding team at BrookLodge was extremely helpful, particularly on the day. They arranged all the decorations so that we could focus all of our attention on just getting ready that morning. They added small touches, such as sentimental expressions on our chalk blackboards, these were a lovely surprise when we saw them.
Our menu… The food was a highlight. It was delicious. We had a tasty vegetarian spinach tart to start that everyone raved about, followed by mushroom soup, a choice of beef or hake as the main course and a dessert plate. We have been getting glowing reports from guests since the wedding.
My favourite part of the wedding day… Dancing the night away to The Hitmen Trio, we have never seen a dance floor packed for so much of the night at a wedding.
My piece of advice for other brides… Take a few moments during the day/night together to watch your guests having fun. On a practical note, consider asking a friend or hiring a videographer to video your day as it will really add to your post wedding glow experience when you watch it. Maurice’s brother-in-law kindly took some video for us and we have really enjoyed watching it.
