Carol and Nils' Elegant Ballyfin Wedding

Like wispy clouds that circle overhead on a beautiful summer’s day, today’s wedding was soft and elegant, beautiful and sophisticated. The couple, Carol and Nils, opted for an intimate celebration with 35 guests, wanting to create a relaxed house party feel for their wedding. With Carol’s Monique Lhulier gown and Nils’ Tom Ford suit, style was important yet effortless. The day was captured in an equally stylish and soft manner by Paul Kelly from Studio 3, Dublin.

Carol and Nils got engaged during a very romantic break in Ballyfin, nine years after meeting at work. Nils explains:

“I planned a surprise trip for Carol to Ballyfin. I had organised a private transfer, so we were picked up at our apartment on the Friday morning. Carol didn’t know where we were going, however things became clearer for her when we were on the motorway, as we had been to Ballyfin once before. For the evening I had requested a private dining room for our dinner, so Ballyfin organised a lovely and romantic set up in their China Room, with a small table for two. The staircase down to the room was covered in candles (even though I had never mentioned to the hotel we would be getting engaged) adding to the beautiful, romantic set up. I got down on one knee after the main course and popped the question.”

With a clear idea of an intimate family wedding celebration, Carol quickly prepared spreadsheets of things to do, guests invited, costs and timelines, and got to work meticulously planning their day. The couple chose to have a small number of guests, 35, in order to create a house party atmosphere where everyone was very relaxed and knew each other well. Nils says:

“We wanted to fit the whole wedding party into the main dining room and have one long table as per a group of friends going out to dinner. Food is a big thing for me, so this is also why we picked Ballyfin, as the food there is outstanding. We didn’t want the traditional wedding food, but rather a proper restaurant type meal with our closest friends and family.”

The wedding day was exactly as the couple had planned and thanks to the small number of guests, they were able to relax, have fun and found time to speak to everyone on the day.

We forgot to cut our cake on the day and I forgot to wear my specially purchased wedding perfume, that I had travelled to Paris to buy! Other than that, it was exactly as we’d imagined.

Carol and Nils’ Highlights:

We loved the reception and the meal with everyone – the table looked amazing and the food was spectacular. Also as we were the only guests in Ballyfin and everyone came for 2-3 nights we were able to incorporate different events- Friday was for the immediate families only and we did wine tasting, Saturday was the formal day and then Sunday was a relaxed barbeque with everyone. We would highly recommend a smaller more intimate occasion in general.

Advice for Other Couples

Don’t leave things to the last minute (like me printing the booklets), but also don’t stress too much. It will all work out in the end. Little glitches will happen on the day but they won’t be noticed by anyone and will have no impact on your overall day.