They Did Things Their Own Way, At This Beautiful Blue Wedding Celebration

Say hello to Jen and Robbie! They got married in a beautiful blue wedding celebration, full of personal wedding touches. We love that they took time to privately exchange vows the night before the wedding, they cut the cake right after the ceremony, and the found ways to include their favourite songs wherever possible.

Couple: Jen & Robbie
Engagement length: 1 year, 8 months
Wedding date: 2023-06-10
Wedding location: Tulfarris Hotel & Golf Resort
Photographer: Aidan Beatty Photography

Jen and Robbie met at work and actually had a bit of a secret romance while they both still worked together.

Their beautiful engagement story is best told from Jen’s perspective:

“We got engaged at beautiful Hook Head lighthouse, out on the rocks. I was completely clueless and thought we were just having a nice stroll after breakfast. I didn’t notice that Robbie had absolutely wolfed his breakfast down and was hoping I’d hurry up so we could get out there and he could pop the question. I was so captivated by the sea that I nearly missed him proposing, but it was a beautiful moment and we’ve a funny memory to go along with it.”

“The closest thing we had to a wedding theme was probably the colour blue, a favourite of mine. We found a wedding website theme we liked and then matched our invites to that.”

Jen wore a Lillian West dress which she loved. It was comfortable, and the plunge neck actually has a very invisible mesh across it, so everything stays where it should! Bonus, the dress had pockets (although in the tulle skirt so she couldn’t really use them til later in the evening).

Robbie wore a custom made suit from Moss Bros. He loved designing it on their site, picking the different fabrics, and opting for special details (like the wedding date embroidered on the lining). They opted for pale blue shirts and no ties for the groom and groomsmen, for a comfy vibe.

The bridesmaids were in the Maye Gown from Folkster, in “midnight”, with a beaded belt and silver accessories. Jen and Robbie bought them necklaces from Martina Hamilton (she made the wedding rings and Jen’s engagement ring) to wear on the day. The groomsmen were in Navy suits from Moss Bros, and wore cufflinks with their initials and the wedding date on them.

“We had a really lovely ceremony with Louise Bradshaw as our fantastic celebrant. She really helped us to build a ceremony that suited us completely. We had just one reading; my brother read the poem “Dust” by Harry Baker, which speaks about how it’s about the everyday things, not just the special things, that make a relationship work. We opted for a hand fasting ceremony, and had a ring warming also, which provided a lovely moment for everyone to send good wishes, prayers, and thoughts our way. We booked the Leinster String Quartet to provide music during the ceremony and we loved hearing them. We’re both fans of string instruments and it was great to be able to choose some favourites to hear. I entered to ‘Here Comes The Sun’ by The Beatles, and we left the room to ‘Hoppípolla’ by Sigur Rós. As I am involved in musical theatre, we couldn’t resist weaving just a bit of that into the ceremony music too, with ‘Grow Old With You’.”

“We chose Tulfarris as we felt it was the place we wanted to wake up married. The tour we had really helped us envision our wedding there, and the venue itself is so beautiful. We particularly appreciated all of the decor that’s included and set up by the venue – lanterns and flower arches in the ceremony room, gorgeous centrepieces, cute photo spots like the bike and wedding sign in the courtyard, were all just part of the package. I loved not having to worry about extra decor! The ballroom itself is also really gorgeous, and was a perfect backdrop for our meal. As the hotel is a golf resort, there’s plenty of spots to take photos outdoors, and the staff couldn’t have been more helpful in ferrying us around in a golf cart to each spot so I didn’t have to take a long hike in my heels!”

Their wedding was beautifully captured by Aidan Beatty, so they knew they were in safe hands!

“We loved the natural, casual style of his photos and we got on well with him at our first meeting. On the day, he was absolutely brilliant. He seemed to be absolutely everywhere, capturing shots even when we didn’t realise, and he made it so easy to get our photos together after the ceremony too. We are thrilled with our photos. He caught some absolutely brilliant moments, and we’d have absolutely no hesitation in recommending him to anyone else.”

For wedding favours, Jen and Robbie opted for something simple and sweet. They got lots of small packs of tissues with cute wrappers and used some of the leftover stickers from their invites with their initials on them to customise them. The hotel staff helped by putting these out on the chairs in the ceremony room.

During the evening celebrations, they had a selfie mirror from Carolyn’s Sweets and it was always busy! Everyone had brilliant fun taking photos, and Jen and Robbie had a great time looking at all of the photos a few days later when they got the digital download. Jen enjoyed using these at other weddings and she was pleased to see that their guests enjoyed it too.

Jen found it hard to choose a favourite memory from the Big Day, as you can imagine.

“It’s very hard to choose – maybe the minute I walked in and saw Robbie and knew the day was going to be perfect, or the moment we walked into the dinner room and saw all our guests excited and happy and heard the cheers, or the moment we shared our first kiss as a married couple. I did have a special moment singing with our wedding band, which I’ll also always remember, and breaking out the guitar we brought for a singsong in the wee hours of the morning was unbelievably fun. I think my favourite memory will probably change every week as we keep recalling moments from the day.”

There are some things they did a tiny bit differently that they absolutely loved and would happily recommend to anyone:

“We read our vows to each other privately, the night before the wedding. We stayed in the venue and took some time by ourselves to just settle and prepare for the big day, and read our vows. We were able to have a beautiful private moment just to ourselves, and it also meant we knew what to expect when reading them during the ceremony and were able to get through them without as big a worry about tears.

“We cut our cake right after the ceremony, and had it cut and served with the finger food at the drinks reception. There wasn’t a crumb of cake left and it was very much appreciated as an addition to the finger food. It also meant our cake cutting photos were in lovely daylight. Too often cake goes to waste in the evening, this way there was no waste!

“Lastly, the day really does go by as quickly as everyone says, so try and snatch some moments with your new spouse where you can!”