After being together for over nine years, Anna and Joe spontaneously decided it was time tie the knot! Their wedding was a fun celebration of their life and love for each other at home in their back garden. With thanks to Caroline McNally for sharing this special day with us.
Joe and Anna first met in 2005 when they were working in the same restaurant together. Their first date was to the zoo and Joe knew right then that Anna was special;
“I knew when we went on our first official date to the Zoo that it was for life. Anna managed to get herself bitten by a baby goat. She just laughed and that’s when I knew that she was just odd enough to be with me!” said Joe.
The couple got engaged during a camping trip on Inishmore in 2011. Just like their marriage, it was a spontaneous and unplanned!
“A friend recommended we visited the Black Fort on the Atlantic side of the island. After trekking for hours we finally found the ruins perched on the cliff side overlooking the ocean. It had already been a perfect day, and the setting was so beautiful that, sitting in that incredible place, with the waves crashing onto the rocks below us and with only seagulls for company, I just suddenly knew it was the moment. Obviously, thanks to my complete lack of preparation, I had no ring, so I sneaked off and fashioned one from the few wild flowers I could find, and with what little skill I could muster from my shaking hands. After asking Anna to marry me her first response was, “Are you joking?”, followed by “Seriously, are you joking?!”. But eventually my mute nodding convinced her, and she dropped onto her knees crying and laughing in equal measure,” added Joe.
“What little planning we did, we did with the help of our family and good friends. After years of being engaged, we decided to get married pretty spontaneously, so we didn’t have a lot of savings and no clear picture of how we wanted it to be, but we knew we wanted it intimate and personal. We both didn’t have a lot of experience with wedding parties as we were the first ones from our close circle of friends to get married, but we knew we could throw a mean garden party, and so the matter was settled pretty soon,” explained Anna.
Thanks to their very talented family and friends their autumn wedding came together;
“We wanted autumnal colours and flowers as we both love the autumn and are very outdoorsy people. We love to go camping and hiking, and so it made sense that all our decoration and colours would be colours found outside in our beloved Phoenix Park, on the mountains and in our own garden at that time of year,” added Anna.
Despite forgetting her beloved bridal bouquet that her mum had crafted, Anna and Joe’s wedding was perfect for them;
“It was a perfect day, better than we ever imagined – the best day of our lives. Because of the small number of people attending there was a real feeling of intimacy and warmth to the whole event, and the weather obliged us too by providing a beautiful autumn’s day. We were both nervous wrecks leading up to the ceremony, but the joy of our families and friends carried us through. Though it was a lot of work organising our own food and venue, it was so welcoming to come back to our home to celebrate, and as the night drew in the garden and marquee became really magical as we lit the candles and garlands,” said Joe.
Wedding Suppliers
Photographer: Caroline McNally Photography.
Venue: Couples back garden.
Wedding dress: Monsoon.
Groomswear: Fitted by Des Byrne, Grafton Street, Dublin.
Flowers: Purchased from Smithfield Market, arranged by Brides mum.
