When a couple’s first wedding requirement is to have fun, well, we know it’s going to be a good one and today that’s exactly what we’ve got! To chase away the rainy day blues, let us introduce you to Jennie and Colin’s Wedfest wedding at Castle Durrow. Every element of the day (fun and frolics included) was captured by Paulina and Rafal of Syona Photography. Read on for an instant smile on your face!
Jennie and Colin met around 10 years ago through Jennie’s old school friend and Colin’s cousin, Eve:
“I can’t say we hit it off straight away, but let’s just say Colin can be pretty persistent!” says Jennie.
Five years into their relationship, the couple decided to call it a day and Jennie headed off with her girlfriends travelling, but she soon found that whenever she did something fun or amazing, there was only one person she wanted to share it with – Colin. She quickly learned he was the one she wanted to share all her experiences with and soon the romance was back on!
The day before his 30th birthday, Colin sealed the deal.
“The proposal wasn’t completely unexpected, we were together 10 years after all, but I had no idea when he was planning it for. He woke me up with a breakfast tray of champagne, strawberries, our song playing and a jewellery box! He got down on one knee and told me how important I am to him and how he can’t imagine experiencing life with anyone else and asked me to marry him. I was in tears! He had also written out a card with some beautiful, meaningful words and the fact that I was being whisked off to a romantic European destination in two days time. He gave me the average temperature so I knew what clothes to pack. That night we went out with all of our friends to celebrate and after a couple of drinks he let it slip he was taking me to Rome. We had an amazing week. I love Rome!” explains Jennie.
The couple celebrated their wedding a year and a half later, in November 2013.
“We wanted our day to be more fun than serious so we introduced a music festival theme to our day. I think we achieved this with everyone having a lot of fun over a two/three day long weekend. We had the castle pretty much to ourselves so it really felt relaxed and special for the few days,” says Jennie.
Jennie admits herself that during the wedding planning there were moments of stress, because she had taken on a lot of DIY elements for the day.
“I designed many of the personalised elements myself; the invites, music festival themed table plan, menus, event planners for each guest to wear around their neck, music and ceremony details as well as the second day details. I decorated the tables myself using colourful welly boots filled with flowers and raffia. I made the ceremony booklets myself using a photo of us with our dog Jessie on the front cover. I used one of the poems Colin wrote in a Valentines card a couple of years ago as one of our readings and we also both wrote our own vows. I made little notes for my guests and put them around the venue in pretty photo frames. My brother Jake spent about 4 weeks painting us a huge ‘guest tree’ which every one of my guests finger printed on the day to look like leaves on the tree. It’s now hanging above my fireplace, it’s very special.”
Jennie’s advise for brides
“I would like to say don’t sweat the small stuff but people said that to me and I completely ignored it! If you are a perfectionist like me you are going to worry no matter what people tell you. My one piece of advice would be to take about 20 minutes and have a glass of champagne with your new husband in private between the ceremony and meal. It’s a lovely thing to do and you won’t have seen each other for a day or two before that so it’s good to fill in the gaps and catch up and swap emotions!”
“I decided I didn’t want a cake so we had rounds of cheese instead. I got a cheese board which my Uncle then engraved with our initials and we decorated it with grapes and figs.”
Favourite memories:
Colin: When I saw Jennie first walking down the aisle to me. I cried more than she did!
Jennie: I’d agree with Colin. The whole day was amazing and we have a lot of musicians in our life so the sing-song after party on both nights was a lot of fun, but walking down the aisle with all the people I love on either side of me and my favourite person at the end of the aisle and my friend’s voice singing one of my favourite songs was a memory that will always make me smile.
Jennie & Colins Wedding Suppliers
Venue: Castle Durrow, Laois.
Photographer: Syona Photography
Wedding and Bridesmaids’ dresses: Town Bride, Powerscourt Town House, Dublin.
Jewellery: Voltaire Diamonds, Dublin.
Hair: Joyce Clarke Henry.
Make Up: Audrey O’Keeffe, tel: 086 0875954.
Flowers: Joeanna Caffrey.
Grooms wear: The Formal Suite.
Cake: Cheese from Sheridans.
Entertainment: Pro DJs.