After searching for an Irish lass to make his wife, it took a blind date for Englishman Richard to find the lovely Julie and after that one date they both fell hook, line and sinker for each other! While the pair love London, it had to be an Irish wedding for the two in the romantic country setting of Ballyvolane House which hosted Richard and Julie's dream boho-glam garden party reception. The vibe was stylish and elegant and it looked like a lot of fun too despite the wee drizzle of rain! Into the Light captured it all and we're delighted to share it with you today...
Richard is from England but lived in Ireland for a while with work and always told his friends he wanted to meet an Irish girl to make his wife! Well we are the best aren't we ladies? It wasn’t until he moved back to London when a friend of Julie's became a colleague of Richard's and set the pair up on a blind date... Richard was a perfect gentleman on our first date and we fell for each other immediately. We shared a love of food, friends, family, sport and London living which quickly blossomed in to a deep connection and a generous love.
After dating for two years, Richard decided to whisk Julie away for a weekend of English sports and celebration, or so she thought. In the end it was win, win for this British boy...It was a beautiful summer’s weekend, the Lions had just won their Australian tour, Andy Murray had won Wimbledon and Rich took me to see my first village cricket game in Eynsford, a small village that is quaint, pastoral and as English as you can pretty much get! While we were there he told me across the road was the church he and his sister were christened in. We walked over to take a look and once inside began another (now common) discussion about marriage and weddings. Eventually, Rich asked “So would you marry me?” which was a silly question as we both knew the answer. “Don’t be so stupid, of course I would” I said, then pulled out a diamond ring! He had apparently been carrying it around in his pocket every day for five weeks just waiting for the right time, and then he asked again “WILL you marry me?”. After all the tears, I of course said yes.
The pair chose the beautiful Ballyvolane House in Cork to celebrate, but not before the saying I do in the beautiful Church of the Sacred Heart in Mogeely, Co. Cork, where Julie’s Grandparents got married!
It's official, yay!
I may have tried this gorgeous blue dress on for my sister (I'm her bridesmaid) and I can tell you it didn't look half as fabulous on me as it does on Julie's glam bridesmaids! Of course they are a Ted Baker special and come in a few colours, but the pale blue is a winner today as they are perfect for Julie and Richard's laid back garden party vibe.
Well boys will be boys, nice move lads!
As beautiful as the bridesmaids look, Julie stole the show in her Claire Pettibone wedding dress. She initially found a photo of the dress on Pinterest and fell in love with it (I think a few of us can relate to that!) Unfortunately she had no idea who the designer was for a couple of months until she happened to find the same dress on a bridal shop website! So it was meant to be and Julie bought it in Vancouver while training there with her new job last November and managed to get her very kind manager to hand deliver it to London when she was visiting on a work trip in March. Good work Julie!
Aswell as her beautiful dress Julie brought a bit of boho chic to her look with a wildflower headpiece from Flo & Percy, not to mention the green wellies!
Even though the pair love the London scene, it was back to Ireland to celebrate their wedding...We fell in love with absolutely everything about Ballyvolane House. The huge grand house, the beautiful decor, the manicured gardens and the marquee-barn conversion which could host our reception and also it was the people. If you ever have the pleasure of meeting the owners Justin and Jenny you will know what I’m talking about. They are such a pleasure to deal with and their personal touch on the day was fantastic, nothing was too much and I haven’t even mentioned the food yet! We had heard fantastic reports about the food and were blown away when we went to do our menu tasting.
Loving the romantic Irish country home setting, the celebrations were hosted in the beautiful gardens, full of family, friends, music and incredible food. The vibe was a day full of vintage charm coupled with lots of laughter and dancing - what more could you want!
The day had to reflect us and we dreamed of a welcoming country venue that offered the best of Ireland to our visiting friends and family and that's what we got. To put our own stamp on things, we designed a photo scavenger hunt card for each table and asked our friends and family to hashtag #frostwedscarey so we could make sure we got lots of photos of the most important things from the day. We also had a photo Polaroid station on a huge old vintage frame where we asked guests to replace their name with a Polaroid of them on the day, we have so many happy memories from the photos we collected form this.
Julie and Richard have some sound advice for brides and grooms planning their own day - Don’t let all the planning get on top of you and always remember why you’re organising this huge event! Because you’re in love and you want to celebrate this with your closest family and friends. Let your other half help with the organising, Rich was amazing it’s worth trusting them and letting them organise some of the day, you’ll be surprised! Pinterest will become your best friend trust me and let the groom surprise you with the first dance!
Huge congratulations Julie and Richard on your beautiful Ballyvolane wedding and a big Thank You goes to Jared & Sean of Into the Light for sharing their work with us at One Fab Day, to see more of Into the Light's work pop over to www.macias-lordan.com.
All the Wedding Details
- Ceremony: Catholic Church of the Sacred Heart, Mogeely, Co. Cork
- Reception: Ballyvolane House
- Photography: Into The Light
- Wedding Dress: Claire Pettibone
- Bridesmaids dresses: Ted Baker
- Shoes: Jimmy Choo
- Flowers: Bloomsday Flowers
- Groomsmen suits: Massimo Dutti
- Accessories: Wilderness forehead band from Flo & Percy
- Cake: Siobhan Walsh
- Cars: Heritage Wedding Cars
- Stationery: Deirdre Rose Design
- Make Up: Susie of Glo Makeup
- Hair: SOBE BROWN
- Wedding Bands: The Moog 69’s
- Ceremony Music: Gemma Sugrue
- Reception Music: Sam Barker Music
