If you're a Dubliner (by birth or by choice, it doesn't matter) then today's real wedding of Helen and Jonathan will tug at your heartstrings. The two stayed true blue, in every sense and combined a ceremony at the heart of the city in Stephen's Green, with a country inn style celebration in the beautiful Strawberry Beds just up the road. Two versions of the city brought together for a day to remember. The show stopper of the day was of course the bride, Helen, whose own individual style is of a fashionable vintage vixen! Siobhan Byrne captured the day so join us as we check out their day...
It really was love at first sight for Jonathan and Helen, who met on the annual festival of most loved up day of the year as Helen explained..."We met 10 years ago on Valentine’s Day in a nightclub in town. We fell head over heels for each other and we were inseparable. After about 10 months of dating, Jonathan went to Philadelphia for a week. I went to see him the morning he came back and he had covered one of his bedroom walls with little post-its, on each post-it Jonathan had written “I love you”, there were hundreds of them!" You could say the writing was on the wall back then!
With love declared in such a grand gesture, the couple were firmly cemented, so according to Helen when it came to the trip down the aisle, "There was no romantic proposal, we are the best of friends so it goes without saying that getting married was a no brainer!"
Remember the postits story? Well it continued on the wedding day as Jonathan gave Helen's mum an envelope to give to Helen while she got ready. When she opened it a postit with the words “I love you” was inside, and it was an orginal from the day he put them together over 10 years ago!
Helen loves a bit of originality so it made sense she'd be rockin' a cool look on her wedding day. Her vintage frock was from Memories Boutique and her aim was to combine the best of old and new so the 50s style dress was given a modern twist with a pretty unexpected pair of heels...
When asked about the priorities for the big day, Helen joked it was her wedding shoes! The fab blue suede Alexander McQueen heels with skull detail are pretty epic though, I have to say. Every girl has got her vice, and if you can't indulge for your wedding day when can you?
Carrying on the blue colour of the day the bridesmaids wore blue fitted lace dresses from Dorothy Perkins, and Helen added a fun birdcage veil to top off her own look, the brooch and pearl detail are a beautiful element to the headpiece.
These true Dubs stayed in the fair city to say I do in the Newman University Church on St Stephens Green.
The pair have lots of talented family and friends around them with each adding their own touch to the day. Helen's brother started it off by contributing to the ceremony, he played traditional Irish music with two friends during the ceremony and continued at the reception!
The music is playing, the guests are smiling, the walk down the aisle means one thing... it's official.
Of course you couldn't have a ceremony on Stephen's Green without popping into the park for some photographs. It looks like these little guys wanna head straight to the play ground - Love the braces boys!
Helen and Jonathan were full of praise for their photographer Siobhan, an old pal of OFD "Having great photos from the day was high on our list of priorities and we absolutely adore our wedding photographs that were taken by the very talented Siobhan Byrne. I have looked at the photos a 100 times since and I am still spotting details that Siobhan zoomed in on. She was a fantastic photographer and so easy to work with on the day."
The lace detail on Helen's vintage dress and embellished flowers on the neckline and waist reminded me of a certain Betty Draper, elegant and pretty all at once. Jonathan is equally as polished in his navy suit from Dorian Black, with lighter blue accessories, perfect for his bride to be who loves all things blue!
The main priority on the day for Jonathan and Helen was to have fun and have their family and friends with them to celebrate. A relaxed, fun atmosphere was what they wanted in their reception, with nothing too formal and they found what they were looking for only a hop skip and a jump away from the city centre. The Anglers Rest was the perfect location for them as it was only 15 minutes from the city centre, but tucked away in the Strawberry Beds, overlooking the river liffey in the picturesque valley, you feel like you're at a country inn.
"Good quality food was a must for us and Anglers Rest has a great reputation for food and service and they certainly didn’t let us down. We had disposable cameras on each table and some guest took pictures of their empty plates after each course, to show how much they enjoyed the meal. Guests were coming up to us throughout the evening raving about the food. Anglers Rest had everything we wanted as a wedding venue." Well you can't ask for more than that.
Helen and her mum took to the DIY buzz with gusto when it came to planning the wedding especially the reception decor. They arranged all the flowers and Helen's mum made the pots of homemade jam for the guests, while Helen's sister's made two amazing cakes in another kitchen (sounds like an episode of Masterchef!) Helen loves to cross stitch so she got busy in the run up to the wedding making little decorations for the cake table and personalised bunting. The results went on proud display bringing that sense of home and family to the surrounds of the cosy upstairs rooms at The Anglers Rest.
Another special element was their cake topper, they pair couldn't have their favourite little four-legged friends at the wedding so the cake topper was Helen and Jonathan's way to have them present on the day - How cute!
What advice would you give to brides and grooms planning their day? Enjoy every minute, don’t take it too serious and most importantly have fun! The day goes by so fast, so just live it up!
For their honeymoon, the pair headed to the other side of the world - New Zealand and Fiji no less. Huge congrats guys!
A big Thank You goes to Siobhan Byrne for sharing her gorgeous work with us today, to see more of Siobhan's work pop over to www.siobhanbyrnephotography.com.
The Wedding Details:
- Ceremony: Newman University Church
- Reception: Anglers Rest
- Photographer: Siobhan Byrne
- Wedding Dress: Vintage at Memories
- Head Piece: Lilac Rose
- Bridesmaids dresses: Dorothy Perkins
- Shoes: Alexander McQueen at Brown Thomas
- Groomsmen’s suits: Dorian Black
- Cars/Wedding Favours: InStyle Cars
- Make Up & Hair: Armani counter Brown Thomas & Brown Sugar
- Cake topper: Global Cake Toppers
