We do love to hear from real brides! You know why? They have real stories! If you don’t know, we have a fabulous wedding planning community on Facebook. It’s a thriving group called HIGM and it’s THE place to be if you are an Irish bride. One of HIGM’s very own brides is Grainne Flynn and she’s sharing some of her real wedding planning experiences with us!
How did you get engaged?
We got engaged in December 2017 – my birthday. We were down in Mayo, Michaels home for the Christmas & it was awful weather. Michael asked me to marry him just before we left to come back home. We had been to louisberg & Achill on the trip but the weather had been too bad to get out of the car, I’d say Michael felt the world was against him ha ha ha
Which suppliers did you book first?
We provisionally booked our venue and then linked in with Church to make sure the date was available. From there we booked our photographer & band. They were all booked within a month of getting engaged.
We went to an open day for Clontarf Castle about 2 weeks after we got engaged & loved it so booked it. We both are very decisive and once we find something we both like & are happy with the cost we are not interested in spending time looking for more.
Which factors help you to choose one supplier over another?
The online reviews played a big part as did photos. I’m a believer in the time, cost, quality equation – cheapest isn’t always best. I also took a lot of referrals from friends and looked at them….I booked most of our suppliers from other people referrals.
Did you attempt to do any DIY projects?
We did little sweet jars for the centre pieces with a mix of our favourite sweets. I also ordered animal bar wrappers with a copy of our invite photo on it & bought animal bars to go in.
What were you most looking forward to on your wedding day?
Having a big party with all my family and friends in the same room.
We honestly had the best day ever, loads of things went wrong / not to plan but we just laughed them off. Like I ordered personalised Tayto packs & there was a misunderstanding around Michaels name so the pack said gráinne & Fergus (Michaels surname) – when I say we fell around the place laughing on the Friday I’m not exaggerating, we were creasing up the whole time. We also made a donation to the Peter McVerry trust in lieu of favours & we forgot to bring the little cards they gave us to put on the tables. A couple people couldn’t make it on the day as they were sick / missed a flight etc …. we didn’t even notice them missing.
My advice to all brides is just enjoy the day & don’t sweat the little things – at least one thing will go wrong – just go with it.
We had the best suppliers & the WeddingsOnline admin were an absolute god send especially when we had issues with our venue – I can’t thank Caroline enough for the advice she gave me – suffice to say we sorted it all out with them!!! I will leave all our suppliers a review on WeddingsOnline.
