Susan and Sean met in a lab in UCD as students, after a Canadian proposal the couple tied the knot last March at Barberstown Castle surrounded by their closest friends and family. Suzanne from Circus Photography captured the day and all its little touches perfectly and we’re delighted to share their story with you today.
“Sean wanted to proposal at Niagara Falls but it was too overcrowded so he waited until we got back to Toronto before he popped the question. It took me a few minutes to realise it wasn’t a joke!” said Susan.
The couple chose Barberstown Castle as they felt it was perfect for their spring wedding. “We had a March wedding so we wanted a venue that was beautiful inside as well as outside. Expecting it to rain we anticipated that we were going to be spending most of the day inside so it was important that the venue had character and was not just a white room inside. We were also having our ceremony at the venue and the ceremony room in Barberstown is gorgeous. In the end there was a heatwave at the end of March, so on our wedding day it was actually 20°C! Most of our guests spent the day in the lovely private courtyard wearing sunglasses!” explained Susan.
Susan wore a gorgeous beaded lace Justin Alexander gown that she first saw online. Her maids wore soft pink and white two piece outfits and her MOH wore a navy full length gown. The day was given a soft romantic feel with lots of florals and pastel shades. Susan made her brooch bouquet from hundreds of collected brooches including an antique blue brooch that Sean had given her for Christmas after they got engaged.
“My favourite part of the day was the ceremony. We had a humanist ceremony, Emma Sides was our celebrant. It was absolutely amazing, so personal and Emma was just absolutely brilliant, such a natural and put us at ease from the first day we met her! We wrote the vows ourselves so it was very personal for us. Plus walking down the aisle to Today by Smashing Pumpkins, it was great to walk down the aisle to one of our favourite songs but having it played by the string quartet gave it a much more romantic feel and was perfect for our day!” said Susan.
Susan’s Advice
Don’t get hung up on small things, we had so many things happen: Sean dropped our cake and it was the wrong colour, my maid of honour nearly didn’t make it as she was pregnant, luckily my niece decided to arrive a little early and I got my maid of honour and a beautiful new goddaughter to share the day with. The most important thing is that both of you show up, you have someone to legally marry you and you’re happy and healthy to enjoy your day with your loved ones. Something will always go wrong, but you will be surprised that very few of your guests will even notice!
Wedding Suppliers
Venue: Barberstown Castle, Kildare.
Photographer: Circus Photography.
Wedding dress: B Couture Bridal, Arklow.
Grooms suit: Ted Baker.
Hair: Shauna Lawlor.
Make-up: Nikki Kavanagh.
Humanist Celebrant: Emma Sides.
Ceremony Music: Bohemian Strings Quartet.
Band: The Mixtape.
