A Rustic Wedding with Burlap and Lace

“We liked the rustic look so we used that for our decorations and our invites. We did all the decorations ourselves using flowers from the range, burlap and lace from wish and other bits we already had.”

Your Names: Aisling Bergin and Lukasz Wisniewski

Length of engagement: 2 years

Wedding Date: 2020-01-24

Wedding location: The Set Theatre, Langton House Hotel Kilkenny

Photographer: Magical Memories

How did you meet and get engaged?

We met on Tinder after being convinced to join by friends. We talked for a bit online, then met for coffee and just clicked. He proposed after 15 months. We went to visit his family in his hometown. On one evening we went for dinner and then to a small lake afterwards. It was a lovely clear night so there were plenty of stars although it was -10 degrees. That’s where he proposed. It was perfect. Until I stepped off the little pier and put one foot into the lake. I had to walk back to his parents’ house in minus 10 degrees with one wet foot. Cold doesn’t begin to describe it!

Describe your wedding:

We didn’t really have much of a theme. We liked the rustic look so we used that for our decorations and our invites. But we didn’t match the bridesmaids dresses or suits to it. Or the dresses to the suits for that matter. We did all the decorations ourselves using flowers from the range, burlap and lace from wish and other bits we already had.

Tell us about your bridal look:

My dress was Anthea by Stella York. I got it in Jeutonic in Kilkenny back in 2014 during a previous engagement. I know they say it’s bad luck to use the same dress. But I never wore it and it was MY DRESS! I spotted it during a transition year fashion show at my youngest sister’s school and I knew straight away that was my dress. That didn’t change later on! The dress was a macchiato colour which really matched my hair. Natural redhead.

I didn’t bother with fake tan. It’s not me at all. I wanted my hair down and curled a little as that really suits me. So my amazing hairstylist Jade Scanlon curled my hair and pulled it forwards on one side. She also put a hair vine in it that I had gotten from Claire’s accessories. Michelle from the Beauty Bar in Callan Kilkenny did my make up. She is amazing! She gave me a dramatic eye and lip colour. The lipstick was a brownish red which really matched well with my dress.

For my flowers I ordered a large bunch of flowers from flowers by Lucy to be delivered the day before. I removed some of the filler greenery and wrapped a ribbon from it the morning of the wedding.

What did your bridesmaids wear?

I got the bridesmaids dresses on Coast online. My 2 sisters were my bridesmaids. I chose a dress style that would suit both of them and picked dresses in colours that would suit each of them. One was dark green and the other navy.
My daughter was my flowergirl. I got her whole outfit in Monsoon during their January sales.

What was your ceremony like?

We had a civil ceremony in our venue with the register from the HSE. Our register was a lovely friendly woman named Barbara. She allowed us to add a number of things to the ceremony to make it personal to us. We had 3 readings, unity candles and a sand ceremony. Barbara suggested the sand ceremony to include my daughter and I’m delighted she did! We had a string trio for music and they were wonderful! Mary McCague Music. We both loved the sound of strings for the ceremony. There’s just something magical about it.

Tell us about your wedding venue:

We chose Langton House Hotel as our venue as they hands down had the best value packages we found! We already knew the food there is amazing and they have rave reviews from couples. For a good reason. We went with their platinum package which includes band, DJ and drinks reception music. It really takes a lot of extra work off couples to have the wedding co-ordinator manage this.

They have a number of different rooms available to use for the reception. We went with the Set Theatre as we were having a small wedding with 80 guests. It was perfect for that number. The dance floor was big enough for everyone without being so big it looked empty. The Set Theatre is also beautiful for a wedding. It really doesn’t need much extra decoration at all. If any! It has its own entrance from the street for guests when they arrive and its own private courtyard. So it doesn’t feel as if you’re in a big hotel. This was a really big plus for us.

The staff at Langton are all amazing! Really friendly and polite. Sean Read the wedding co-ordinator made everything run like clockwork and was just wonderful to work with. He made sure we had wait staff and barmen who spoke Polish for the groom’s family who didn’t speak English so all the guests were happy. He even printed off the menu my husband translated in Polish for their table.

Tell us about your photographer:

Our photographer was Bartosz Kotulski of Magical Memories. He was so great on the day. He really put both of us at ease. He gave really great directions for the posed photos and was like a fly on the wall for the documentary-style photos. Didn’t even notice he was there half the time. He is so quick to respond to emails. The photos are wonderful! And the photo album is gorgeous! I would definitely recommend him!

What is your favourite memory from your wedding day?

Sitting down for a few minutes in the balcony of the Set Theatre with my husband and being able to look down at all our guests enjoying themselves.
Also having our photos taken on the grounds of Kilkenny Castle before the ceremony. It was really nice to get that little bit of time just us and my daughter. We didn’t see much of each other after that.

Have you got any advice for other couples?

Try to relax and not sweat the small things. It’s so stressful trying to control all the little things that at the end of the day don’t really matter.
The most important thing is the ceremony. After that it’s just a party to celebrate. No one will notice if you don’t have lots of extras like bathroom baskets. All they will remember will be the music and the food. And the ceremony itself. Enjoy the day instead of worrying because it goes so unbelievably fast!

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