A Classic and Elegant Wedding with a Touch of Glam

“We knew we wanted our day to be classic and elegant but it had to have a touch of glam.”

Names: Lois Salmon and Ian Hegarty

Length of engagement: 1 ½ years

Wedding Date: 31^st May 2019

We met… We met through our friend (Emma) when we were 18 and 19. We had not seen each other since our early 20’s and we met again on a night out with friends in January 2012, and agreed to go on a date on Valentine’s Day with two other couples. No pressure! We have been together ever since.

Our proposal… I had seen a TV show about the Shelbourne Hotel and had said I would love to go in over Christmas for ‘The Champagne Afternoon tea’ to get us into the Christmas spirit. Little did I know that Ian had already asked my parents’ permission to propose and both our families were waiting patiently for the news that he had finally popped the question.

So when he reluctantly agreed to go for afternoon tea on 24th November 2017 I had no idea what he was planning. The day came and the Shelbourne was decorated gorgeously, with garlands and lights everywhere. We had just got to the dessert and Ian said he had to go to the loo, when he walked back to the table he got down on one knee and proposed there and then in a room full of people. It was perfect and very brave. We spent the next two weekends celebrating with friends and family.

Our wedding theme/colours… We knew we wanted our day to be classic and elegant but it had to have a touch of glam.

Our church was beautiful and so bright and we did not want to take away from it by adding too many decorations so we decided on having an ivory carpet for the aisle with white lanterns and Ivory tulle wrapped in pearls to decorate the pews.

The Royal Marine drinks reception and ballroom have beautiful champagne gold and silver finishes so we felt our decorations should be neutral and compliment these colours. We hired 5 tall ivory flower ring centrepieces with hanging tea lights and crystals from Event Central for the ballroom which matched with the hotels chrome candelabras. We really wanted to have something we had not seen before so we decided to hire big light up letters of our names Lois & Ian in from Lovin lights, which we had in the mezzanine overlooking the ballroom.

Wedding favours… Instead of favours, we hired a selfie mirror and a flower wall from Candy Lady Lisa. Our guests really enjoyed using the selfie mirror and they went away with a copy of their photos. We also got a lovely photo album from the mirror photos and messages from our guests. The flower wall added an extra decoration to the room on the night too.

Things we DIY’d/made ourselves… Ian is a dab hand at DIY so with the help from his mam they made lots of decorations for the day including 2 trellis’s painted cream. The first trellis we decorated with photos as a memorial for family members who had passed away. The second we decorated with tea lights and mirrors with a bride and groom sign. Both trellis we placed at the two entrances to the ballroom.

Some of the other decorations we had were tulle wrapped in pearls for the pew ends in the church; flowers in vases at the drinks reception tables, signs, and a globe for signing instead of a guest book, and baskets in the toilets with toiletries and fit flops for our guests.

My dress… I got my dress in the Bridal Outlet in Baldoyle. It was the exact opposite of what I thought I wanted. I had assumed from outfits I had worn in the past that I would wear a mermaid style dress, but when I tried those styles on, they did nothing for me. In the end, I went for a princess style dress, which my consultant Darina added a beaded bolero to from a different designer. It matched perfectly and I do not think I would have gone for the dress without it.

My hair and make up… Roy Wong was our makeup artist for the day. He was amazing, his attention to detail was perfect and everyone loved their makeup.

Aoife O’Grady was our hair stylist and she had planned how I would wear my hair, which I loved. However, we had not set out exactly what we wanted for the bridesmaids. Fortunately, Aoife came up with a perfect style for them on the morning and everyone’s hair turned out so well and didn’t move during the day.

What our bridal party wore… We had a big bridal party 5 bridesmaid, 5 groomsmen and a flower girl. We wanted them to feel great but also to be comfortable in what they were wearing.

We found our bridesmaids dresses in Cari’s Closet after seeing them online. After ten minutes of looking at them in person, we knew they were the dresses we wanted. They were a light champagne colour floor length dress (which had a hint of lemon and slight pink undertone) the bottom of their dresses floated beautifully and the top half were fully beaded with rhinestones and pearls. All my girls are beautiful but are so different and it was important that they all looked fabulous in them.

I really wanted them to stand out on the day just as much as the bride and their dresses definitely ticked all the boxes.

My niece Callie who is 3 ½, was our flower girl and she wore an ivory stain dress from Monsoon with a light pink belt, Ivory floral hair band and ivory shoes. I wanted her dress to match my bridal gown in some way and the satin in her dress matched the satin part in my dress exactly. She was like an angel with her blonde hair and big blue eyes, and she took her job very seriously and practiced throwing her petals down the aisle even outside the church. She definitely stole the show.

Because it was summer, we wanted bright coloured suits so we decided on electric blue. We found them in Love Suits Tallaght; the sales assistant was brilliant and had a great selection of colours to choose from. Ian wanted to wear the same suit as our groomsmen. Ian had a patterned ivory tie and the lads ties were plain ivory. They all wore tan coloured shoes. The colour really suited them all and they looked very dapper.

Our ceremony…

We both knew that the wedding ceremony had to be in St Catherine’s Church Meath Street. It is my family’s church in the heart of the liberties in one of the oldest parts of Dublin, the area is known for its community spirit, and brilliant characters.

There is a brilliant tradition that people go to see the bride and all the bridal party on the day, this is something, which I remember doing as a child, stopping to see the lovely dresses and the nervous groom, cheering as the Bride arrived.

On the day true to tradition, there were crowds of people outside the church. Lads from the butchers shouting ‘don’t do it love,’ to family, friends, passing shoppers waiting to greet us and cheering when I stepped out of the car with my dad, it was a surreal moment I’ll never forget.

Our parish priest Fr Niall Coghlan continued the tradition by making sure everyone felt very welcome and part of ceremony. There was more than a few laughs and jokes and we both felt so comfortable and relaxed through the whole ceremony surrounded by everyone who loves us.

Laura Bolger accompanied by a pianist performed the ceremony music. Her voice was stunning and she sang our songs perfectly. We had a mix of songs we loved including Chris Isaak’s Wicked game to an acoustic version of Rihanna’s song ‘Diamonds’.

It was perfect better than we ever thought it could be.

We chose our photographer because… As soon as we saw our photographer’s portfolio we knew it is the type of style we wanted. The pictures were so natural and caught people at their best in such perfect moments. We loved how their albums told the story of the day and were presented in such a modern stylish way and we certainly were not disappointed. Our photos and album were even better than we could have hoped.

We chose our venue because… We wanted a venue that looked different to other venues we had seen before at other occasions. We wanted something we had not seen before for a wedding and that is what we found when we went to view the Royal Marine. The hotel’s architecture stood out from the landscape, it had the perfect mix of old school decadence with bright modern feel. With all that and the sea views, we fell in love with it. The ballroom and drinks reception area were the icing in the cake with their high ceilings and gorgeous chandeliers. They were beautifully decorated. We knew we would not need to add too much to the venue, and more importantly, hide anything. It fit perfectly well with what we wanted.

Just to make sure we had made the right choice we brought our two mams to view it, after they gave their stamps of approval we booked there straight away. Our coordinators came with the hotel and if the venue had not sold itself enough already they definitely did with the coordinators. We met Alma first and we clicked, she knew exactly what we wanted from the first time we met, Christine then brought our ideas to reality on the day, from room layout to music during the meal the team went above and beyond we felt our day was safe in their hands.

Our menu…

Starter: Tomato and goats cheese quiche red onion marmalade and basil pesto aioli

Soup: Carrot and coriander soup

Main: Baked Sea bass lemon and dill mash with green pea puree, Rack of lamb caramelized onion boxy and baby fennel truffle jus

Sides: honey roasted veg and dauphinoise potatoes.

Dessert: Sticky toffee pudding served with a butterscotch sauce and organic vanilla ice-cream

Our honeymoon… Five Days after the wedding we headed to the Maldives for 7 days. We stayed in Meeru resort and spa. It was exactly what we needed after a hectic run up to the wedding, and we had an amazing time and were able to unwind, in a little piece of paradise. One thing that we did on the trip was book a romantic moonlight meal on the beach just the two of us, it was amazing something we will never forget.

My favourite part of the wedding day… Seeing each other at the top of the aisle was one of our favourite parts of the day but we were lucky in that we had so many to choose from. Our family and friends created such an electric atmosphere while spending time with them all before the ceremony. The evening of dancing the night away made it a day we will never forget.

My piece of advice for other couples… It’s your day don’t worry about what other people think of your choices, everyone’s not going to have the same taste as you.

You want to think back on your day as the best day you could have asked for. Your guests will have a great day as long as you are enjoying yourself. You set the tone so enjoy the day, you will find the dance floors at its fullest when you are on it.