An Irish Destination Wedding In A Majestic Castle

Articles, Real Weddings

Say hello to Megan and Leyton! This gorgeous couple planned their Irish destination wedding all the way from Canada and tied the knot in a majestic Irish castle. We love how they focused on celebrating their love with their nearest and dearest, prioritising the entertainment and the party!

 

Couple: Megan and Leyton
Engagement length: 4 years 8 months
Wedding date: 2023-09-08
Wedding location: Ballyseede Castle Hotel
Photographer: Natalie Maher
Videographer: Dan Devane

 

 

Megan and Leyton met at a bar in Toronto! Their beautiful proposal story is best told from Megan’s perspective:

“We went to see Christmas lights at Casa Loma, Toronto’s only castle, as they do a really nice lights display and do up the inside of the castle. Before we went outside to walk around the grounds, we grabbed a Bailey’s hot chocolate, as we walked around I was taking photos. We got to a really nice part in the gardens where the gazebo was. They had done a really nice walkway of arches with lights. Leyton went ahead into the gazebo as I was taking photos. As I walked through the arches to the gazebo, Leyton was done on his knee. I couldn’t believe it! I did get a shock ,definitely wasn’t expecting it to happen. But it was a beautiful setting and we went for a nice dinner and drinks to celebrate afterwards.”

 

 

Their wedding theme and main colour was really inspired the bridesmaid dress colour: eucalyptus!

 

 

Megan wore an ivory wedding dress and Leyton wore a black trousers, waistcoat and an ivory jacket.

 

 

The bridesmaids wore eucalyptus bridesmaid dresses – 3 of them wore the same dress and the maid of honour wore a different style dress. The groomsmen wore black suits.

 

 

“We had an outdoor ceremony on the grounds of Ballyseede Castle. It was absolutely beautiful. The sun was shining and everything just looked perfect. Leyton’s mum was our celebrant, so that was such a special touch. We had Tanya O’ Sullivan do the ceremony music and she was amazing, such a beautiful voice.”

 

 

“Ballyseede Castle is absolutely stunning. The historic vibes are everything you would expect to see in a castle. The outdoors are beautiful so we were so lucky that we had a beautiful sunny day so we got to capture stunning photos outside on grounds. The room and table setting for dinner is stunning, they do it up so simple but beautiful.”

 

 

Their wedding was beautifully captured by Natalie Maher!

Natalie was absolutely amazing from start to finish. She is fantastic at what she does, the tips she even gave coming up to the wedding, she thinks of everything. On the day she made sure every photo was perfect – if my hair or dress needed to be fixed she made sure it was done before a shot was taken. We were so impressed with our photos when we received them from Natalie. She captured stuff on the day that we didn’t get to see and it was so lovely to see. We absolutely love our photos and everyone that sees them talks about the amazing job she did. Natalie was part of the day but we also wouldn’t have even known she was there. So professional and so calm, she made me feel at ease. I would recommend her to anyone as their photographer.”

 

 

The fabulous wedding video was created by Dan Devane! A special part of the story is that Dan also captured Megan’s mother’s wedding during Covid, on a local beach.

“We had Dan Devane as our videographer, he did a great job! On the day we wouldn’t have even know he was there! He also captured so many things that I didn’t get to see which is so nice to look back on,. He did a fantastic job of putting the video together from us getting ready in the morning, the ceremony, the grounds with the drone, the dinner and speeches and everyone up dancing.”

 

“We had the Bentley Boys band and DJ. They were fantastic and had the dancefloor full from the first song until the last song of the night, it was brilliant. We decided not to do any favours, just a thank you card and packet of sweets on each person’s plate as they sat down for their meal.”

 

 

Megan’s favourite memory of the day is having the whole family and all their friends in one room!

“We live in Canada so it was amazing to have all our family and friends together. Some family couldn’t make it from Canada, they were missed. But the love we felt that day from everyone that was there was everything, and to see everyone up on the dance floor enjoying themselves was amazing.”

 

 

We love asking newlyweds for their best wedding planning advice. This is what Megan and Leyton had to say:

“The day goes by so quick so if you can find 5 mins to spend with your partner just to try and take everything in do it, even if it’s just to your room for 5 mins. Don’t expect everything to go absolutely perfectly because things will get forgotten or may not go to plan ,don’t sweat it because no one else will notice only you and it will take away from the beautiful memories you are making on the day.”

 

 

Recommended suppliers

Photographer: Natalie Maher

Videographer: Dan Devane

Venue: Ballyseede Castle Hotel

Planner/coordinator: Mary from Ballyseede Castle Hotel

Band and DJ: Bentley Boys

Other suppliers

Ceremony music: Tanya O Music | Hair: The Pretty Parlour | Makeup: Coco Rouge Makeup | Dress: Finesse Bridalwear | Suit: Indochino | Bridesmaids: Azazie | Cake: Mandy’s Cakes | Celebrant/solemniser: Cheryl Gardner | Stationery: Zazzle | Flowers: Maura’s Cottage Flowers