Ballyvolane House set in Cork, Ireland was the perfect setting for Darron and Aisling’s outdoor summer wedding. With a relaxed rustic feel throughout they added their own personal style. Aisling had her gorgeous lace dress custom made and Darron opted for tweed and desert boots.

They created their own pretty flower arrangements, they baked their wedding cake and added lovely touches such as the patterned china, herbs and ladder seating plan.

Thanks so much to Photography by Brideen for sharing their photographs with us today.

 

 

The Proposal… Darron surprised me with a trip to New York. I thought I was heading down the country for a few days but ended up at the airport. We stayed at a gorgeous hotel in city and on the second morning, June 23rd 2012, I woke up to Darron’s proposal with a gorgeous necklace as the deal sealer! We spent the day wandering around having champagne and cocktails to celebrate. It was lovely; New York is our favourite city so it was very apt! We spent the next few months looking for my engagement ring together. It was a great time!

The Vision for the Day… We just wanted something very chilled and a little different with personal touches that really made it our day. We considered skipping back to New York for a sneaky city hall wedding, but decided a wedding at home with all our friends and family was a nice way for us to say thank you to a lot of people for all they have done for us over the years.

The Planning Process… It was important to us that the whole process was fun and not a stress fest in any way. Having stayed at Ballyvolane House the year previous we knew that if we were going to have a wedding it would be there. We booked our date in October and got stuck into all the other elements from after Christmas until the day. We’re very lucky in so far as we have some great talent around us who very kindly were there to help with different bits and pieces for the wedding. This was essential for us to make the day very personal and was a great excuse to spend time with them all.

Budget… We had an idea of where we needed to be with number and didn’t do too badly in sticking to it. The fact that we did a lot of things ourselves and had great help from our talented family and friends, all helped in having a very personal feel to the day and let us put the funds into the venue, food and drink, which was a biggy to us.

The Venue… We chose Ballyvolane House for our venue. It is a gorgeous old country house oozing in charm, and beautiful gardens. The whole atmosphere of the place is so calm and lovely.

We had the ceremony in a little forest part of the garden at Ballyvolane House.  The land around the house is fabulous and beautifully kept. It was lovely and intimate and very personal. It gave us some lovely memories.

Then all we had to do was walk everyone from the garden to the house for the drinks reception, the fire was blazing, there was Guinness and Elderflower Bellini’s being passed around, while everyone mingled and took in their beautiful surroundings.

The dinner and dancing was in the marquee attached to the old barn in another part of the garden. We really wanted somewhere where we could just be all day rather than ferrying people here and there, it meant we could get the party started straight off.

From the gardens, to the house, to the barn, to the really wonderful team at Ballyvolane House, it all made for a really relaxed, informal and fun day.

The Dress + Accessories… My jewellery and hair comb was designed by Emma Jean Jewellery using some of my Mum’s jewellery within it and as inspiration. This was a lovely process; Emma is such a talent and just super to work with. It gave me a lovely way for me to have my Mum included in the day. My shoes were from Rachel Simpson, just a simple silver vintage style which were so comfortable to wear and really cute.

Finding the Dress… After looking in a few places and not really seeing anything that we fancied, I decided I’d get my dress made. I then saw the skirt of a dress I quite liked in one shop so we asked could they work with us to design the rest of the dress using the skirt as a starting point. They were delighted to do it as they liked the ideas we had. The dress evolved a little bit along the way, but I really enjoyed the process.

Groom’s Attire… As the venue had a bit of a country house/vintage feel we went for a tweed three piece suit for Darron. We didn’t want to go too formal so the desert boots were a cheeky addition to the outfit which he loved. The grooms men wore a pair of chino’s with a discreet floral shirt, the same as Darron, along with a tweed waistcoat and desert boots too, they all had a nice wool tie to finish it off. They looked great and enjoyed donning something different to the usual wedding gear!

The Readings + Music… My cousin Simon played acoustic guitar and sang throughout our ceremony in the woods. It was really gorgeous, he’s very talented. We had great craic choosing each song and putting it together with Simon in the time running up to the wedding. He sang ‘True Companion’ by Marc Cohen as I walked up the aisle, which was absolutely gorgeous and had a few in tears!  My sister’s boyfriend Graham is a super piano player and very kindly tinkled on the ivories of the grand piano in the house as everyone came in after the ceremony. For the dancing in the barn we had Mad Uncle Harry, a great blue-grass style band, everyone loved them. My cousin Colin played a blinder on the decks for the latter part of the night. He had everyone up dancing till the wee hours.

Beautiful Bridesmaids… My sister Aoife and my best friend Amy were my bridesmaids and were absolute gems. I’d have been lost without them. My godchild Rachel was my flower girl and was only gorgeous. We found their dresses in Costume in Dublin and only discovered after loving them that they were on sale, so we were delighted with the bargain. Rachel’s dress was a lady’s fit and we had it remade to fit her perfectly and look a bit more little girly! We weren’t looking specifically for that colour, but we loved the dresses, so it gave us a great scheme to get going with.

The Flowers… I just wanted a simple wild flower look for the bouquets, tables and buttonholes. I researched the flowers I liked and ordered them from a flower market in Cork. Fergal was the guy I dealt with there; he was the loveliest man and couldn’t have done enough to help me. Then on the evening before the wedding my family and friends got stuck in to put everything together with us, which was a bit of craic. My friend Sandra (who I studied interior design with), my aunt (who had dabbled in floristry before) and I put together the bouquets. I was chuffed with them all; it worked out great and was definitely a more cost effective and special way of looking after the flowers.

The Cake… Darron and I got cracking on making the cake a few months before the wedding. We make a serious fruit cake, so we went with this for a traditional wedding cake. We really enjoyed doing this together. For the icing I called on my friend Louise who is a great cake maker to help me with the homemade marzipan and icing. I decorated the cake the night before the wedding as it was just to have a simple ribbon and fresh flowers.

Your Photographer… We came across Photography by Brideen through a friend of ours. We fell in love with their really natural style and once we met Brideen and Deci we knew they’d be perfect for us. Brideen and Deci are the loveliest people and as a couple who hates the camera they made us feel very comfortable with it all. They were so professional and fit in really well with our friends and family, everyone enjoyed having them there. This is really important seen as they are with you for such a huge part of the day. We are delighted with our photos and were chuffed that they captured every element of our day in such a lovely, natural and unique way.

The Details + Decor… The details were a really important part for us and we really enjoyed thinking out what we could do to add our own touch to the day. We started with the invites, myself and Darron designed them and we worked together with my friend Linda for the setting out for print, which was a great help. Being honest the invite making was a big undertaking but worth it, as it was the first taste for everyone for the buzz of the day. From there we put together bits and pieces for the day to give a little personal touch and a sense of us!

The Honeymoon… We skipped off to Spain for a week to a lovely resort after the wedding for a little minimoon. We didn’t want to do the official honeymoon straight after the wedding. So we’re hoping to have a nice long trip around Christmas time, all going to plan.

Memorable Moments… There’s no one memorable moment as such. The whole thing was a blast and we thoroughly enjoyed the whole process and day itself.

Advice for Other Couples… Everyone says it, but really do try and take 5 minutes for your selves to take it all in on the day, as it just flies by in a blink.

Credit Where Credit is Due…

Venue: http://www.ballyvolanehouse.ie/home/

Photographer: http://www.photographybybrideen.com/

Jewellery: https://www.facebook.com/emmajeanjewellery/about

Ideas & Styling: [email protected]

Music Ceremony: [email protected] (Acoustic Guitar & Vocals)

Music Drinks Reception: [email protected] (Piano)

Band: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Mad-Uncle-Harry/168236551378

DJ:  [email protected]

Flower Suppliers: http://bloomfieldflowers.ie/index.html

So wonderful, i just love the flowers and the pretty festoon lighting in the evening. Thanks so very much to Darron and Aisling for sharing their gorgeous wedding with us today XOXO Lou