Christine and Maurice's Perfect Day at The Dunraven Arms Hotel

Now, this is an interesting wedding story; the wedding that was and then wasn’t! Read on to find out why Christine and Maurice’s wedding day took many different paths before they finally made it up the aisle and said ‘I do.’

Photography by ATL Photography.

Christine and Maurice first met in a bar in Newcastle West. In December 2011, the couple headed off to a cosy cottage in West Cork for a romantic break, where Maurice popped the all-important question.

When it came to planning the wedding Christine and Maurice had different ideas, which led to a few compromises along the way. Christine explains:

“I had hoped for a wedding abroad but Maurice was having none of it. We compromised and said we’d plan a weekend wedding in Killarney, so we booked the hotel, church – everything. Then a few months later I cancelled the whole thing, it just didn’t feel like the right wedding for us.

We began to put the wedding on the back burner and started planning our house, but slowly we started thinking about the wedding again and we decided to plan what was to be a small local wedding. Well, that grew wings and 80 guests grew to almost 300!

We took a very laid back approach to the planning, as we wanted to treat it like a party, rather than a formal dinner and give our guests a day to remember. And we’re happy to say, we succeeded!”

“I wore a strapless gown from Finesse in Listowel. The girls in the shop couldn’t have been more helpful. They weren’t a bit pushy and allowed me to try on as many of their fab dresses as I wanted. It was a wonderful experience and I thoroughly enjoyed dealing with them.”

Christine’s Highlights:

“Maurice and I have two stunning children, Diarmuid, 8 and Katie, 2. They stayed with Maurice the night before the wedding. When I arrived at the church and saw them in their wedding clothes I got very emotional. It was a beautiful moment. They were so excited!

We were also blessed with the weather. Everyone we wanted to be there was there. Friends came all the way from Seattle and Australia, and family came from all over the country. The day couldn’t have gone any better. Everyone was so excited for us and helped us to have a brilliant day.”

Christine’s advice for other couples:

“Don’t set out to plan ‘the perfect wedding.’ Set out to plan a day thatyou will enjoy! Be relaxed and know that not every little thing matters. I had a list of things that I wanted to have. I didn’t have time to get to a good few of those, but it didn’t matter. No one else knew and the day went off without a hitch! Don’t stress out on the day as all your guests will know. If people see you being relaxed and enjoying the day, they too will enjoy themselves.”