“Much to his great effort he did manage to walk me into a tree…”
The couple: Laura Toomey & David Andrew Patrick
Length of engagement: 1 year | Wedding date: 13th June 2014
Wedding location: Fort Camden, Crosshaven, Co. Cork
Photographer: Tomasz Kornas Photography
We met… at our local pub called Pine Lodge in Myrtleville Co. Cork. Dave had just started a new job as bar attendant. I was on a night out with a few of my friends and when I asked for his number he said that he didn’t have a number as he had just recently moved from England. It was a couple of weeks later when we returned and I ordered a round of drinks, returning for my change I noticed that Dave had folded up a piece of paper with his number on it, that’s how it all began for us.
Our proposal… was quite personal for the both of us, it was on our 5th year anniversary, we had arranged to meet up for a few drinks at Pine Lodge and Dave arrived before me to prepare the area where he had first asked me out. I was collected by my sister and a friend. When we arrived at the Lodge my friend said that she had forgotten to walk her dogs so needed to go home, by now I was a little suspicious that something was happening, walking into the Lodge I saw Dave at the bar looking rather nervous. We ordered our drinks and decided to play a game of pool. I was just about to take my jacket off when Dave came up behind me and blindfolded me. He then led me out of the bar and tried his best to guide me around. Much to his great effort he did manage to walk me into a tree, we eventually stopped and Dave sat me down and told me to take the blindfold off. Once I had taken the blindfold off and adjusted my eyes, I saw Dave in front of me down on one knee holding a little black box. I sat there overwhelmed with emotion surrounded by the most beautiful flowers, Dave then asked the question “Laura Toomey, will you marry me?” and of course I said YES…
My dress… I got my dress from Cinderella’s Closet, my sister had arranged to go dress shopping in another shop which fell through, so we rang around by chance to see if we could be squeezed in for an appointment, gratefully they squeezed us in. Upon arriving I was really nervous as I wasn’t sure what to expect, a room full with wedding dresses, my first thought was where do I even begin? My sister was a huge support – she rifled through the various dresses and helped me pick out four very different styles. My dress was the second one I tried on – Lace Pearl Ivory, with a sweetheart neckline. I looked in the mirror and knew instantly that it was going to be the dress.
My hair and make-up… my hair was done by Bridal Hair Cork and my make-up artist was Andrea Murphy, these two women did such an amazing job, they helped make the morning super relaxing and fun.
Our wedding theme/colours…we didn’t set out to have a theme for our day, we really wanted the day to reflect us – we bought our own decorations so we weren’t limited and it really worked perfectly on the day.
Our ceremony… was truly amazing; we ended up decorating the room ourselves so it made it a lot more personal to us. Walking down the aisle alongside my father was such an emotional event, but seeing Dave at the end made it easier. We decided instead of a candle ceremony that we would use a sand ceremony to sanctify our marriage. Dave’s parents had brought sand from South Africa and I gathered sand from my local beach, the ceremony was really beautiful and we couldn’t have asked for more.
What our bridesmaids wore… I really liked the thought of the infinity style dress so searched online until I found the colour we liked. In the end we went with the colour nude and I bought the bridesmaid dresses online from a private seller on Etsy.
We chose our photographer because… This was the one aspect of the wedding I really fixated on, I absolutely love photography and did copious amounts of research before I found what I was looking for. Tomasz Kornas had a completely different approach to wedding photography, his photos are completely natural and fluid, it helped even more that he put a great amount of effort and care into the day and his charisma really helped make the overall experience both fun and relaxing.
We chose our venue because… We set out to have a different approach to our wedding, we wanted a more relaxing day and thought that Bunnyconnellan’s in Myrtleville was the perfect venue for us. We arranged to have a family BBQ and it turned out to be such an amazing day for everyone.
Our menu… our menu was a set BBQ with steak, Cajun chicken, herb sausages and various salads.
Our honeymoon… we decided to honeymoon in Mauritius and what an amazing experience it was.
My piece of advice for other brides… whatever advice and help is offered throughout the planning of your big day, take it on board. Our day from the ceremony to the reception was a suggestion given to me by my mum, at first I was a little apprehensive as I wasn’t sure it was going to work, but in the end I’m really glad I listened to my mum because it turned out to be the most amazing day that I will never forget.