“We love to travel so this was chosen as our theme. For our table names, we chose countries we have visited together, and glued selfies of ourselves onto the back of the name cards.”
Your Names: Kate & Vincent Murphy
Length of engagement: 1 year 7 months
Wedding Date: 2019-11-09
Wedding location: The Station House Hotel, Kilmessan, Co. Meath
Photographer: Alan Dunne Photography
How did you meet and get engaged?
We met in early 2014 through a mutual friend at his going away party. We hit it off right away and started dating. In April 2018, Vinny proposed to me in our apartment! He had told me at the Christmas prior that I should book a few days off work for a surprise trip but didn’t give any more details than that. When the week of the trip arrived, he arranged appointments to have my hair and nails done on the morning of our surprise trip. We were due to leave for the airport at midday, so he told me that he was going to work that morning and would meet me at home after my appointments. Little did I know that Vinny didn’t go to work, and was just down the road nervously drinking multiple coffees in a local café. He sneaked back into the apartment after I left to set up for the proposal. I arrived back with a new hairstyle and manicured nails, only to find fairy lights hanging in the apartment where they hadn’t been before. Walking further into the apartment I found Vinny down on one knee with a ring in his hand. Of course, I started crying and said yes straight away. We flew to Rome that afternoon where we spent the rest of the week basking in a newly engaged glow!
Describe your wedding:
We had our ceremony and reception in The Station House which worked so well for us on the day as it minimised travel and meant we had loads of time to spend mingling with our guests at the reception.
Our friends and family are hugely important to us, so we had large framed collages of photos of all of our guests hung in the reception area.
We love to travel so this was chosen as our theme. For our table names, we chose countries we have visited together, and glued selfies of ourselves onto the back of the name cards.
After the dinner and speeches, we took almost all of our guests outside with us and lit sparklers, which gave us absolutely fantastic night time photos and was a really fun experience for all involved.
What was your ceremony like?
We had a Humanist ceremony, and the wonderful Eamon Murphy (no relation!) was our celebrant. The ceremony was held outside in the turntable and involved a mix of readings, rituals, and songs that were important to us. We got on very well with our celebrant and he worked with us over the weeks and months prior to the wedding to tailor the ceremony to our wants and needs. He gave us lots of ideas and brought his calming nature and sense of humour to the proceedings which was greatly appreciated by ourselves and our guests.
Tell us about your wedding venue:
The venue itself is a former railway station that has been converted into a hotel. The grounds of the hotel are beautifully maintained (which led to many amazing photos on the day), and the outdoor ceremony area which is in the former turntable is gorgeous and unique.
The staff at the Station House were just amazing. The Wedding Team kept in touch with us regularly in the build-up to the big day, and they worked tirelessly to meet our every need.
The hotel felt like home from the moment we first visited and we could not have imagined a better place to get married.
What is your favourite memory from your wedding day?
Far too many to choose from! From seeing our friends and family who had travelled from far and near to be with us, to phone calls with those friends who unfortunately couldn’t make it. We had the best day and didn’t spend a minute without a smile on our faces.
Have you got any advice for other couples?
For now, our advice would be to take the time to enjoy planning a wedding. This is going to be the biggest and best day of your lives, and the next few months will absolutely fly by. But when it’s all over, you’ll miss planning such a fun day, and you’ll miss being asked by your friends and family how it’s going.
On the big day, take 5 minutes with your wife or husband and go somewhere alone and have a breather. The day is non-stop and so enjoyable. But make sure to have a few minutes alone to take it all in, because it will be over in a flash.
Suppliers
Wedding venue: The Station House Hotel, Kilmessan, Co.Meath | Photographer: Alan Dunne | Musician: The Suitcase Trio | Hair: Elaine O’Brien | Makeup: Laura Murphy | Dress: The Bridal Studio, Drogheda, Co. Louth | Groomsmen outfits: Aston Formal Wear, Dublin 2 | Cake: Creative Cakes, Dublin 11 | Celebrant: Eamon Murphy, Humanist Society | Flowers: Flowers Touch, Dublin 3
