What makes a wedding day so special is who you celebrate with and for today's couple they had a pretty brilliant bunch around them. Diane and Stefan met way back when phone boxes were still in fashion. After a few years of courtship they decided together to take the next step. The lovely thing about their celebration was that they kept it intimate and shared their special day with their nearest and dearest. It all took place in the quaint Barnabrow House with their fantastic friends and family digging in with a few surprises. Love was definitely in the air and you can see it shine through the photographs by Julie of Half a Dream Away...
Like so many Irish love stories, it started in the local pub. It was the Summer of 1999 and Diane was in the middle of her Leaving Cert exams, she took us back in time "I decided to go out on the Friday night with friends to let off some steam. Stefan was in the middle of his own FÁS exams so was doing the same. Our eyes met across the beer garden and we got chatting. He told me he’d take me out for a spin on his motorbike the next week so I said I’d give him a call when my exams were over. If you can believe it, this was a time before mobile phones, so to avoid my nosy family hearing me call him, I dragged my friend into town to ring him from the local phone box! He picked me up from town and so it began." What Stefan didn’t know at the time was that Diane had actually had a massive teenage crush on him for years!
There wasn't a proposal per se for Stefan and Diane. It was coming up to a Leap Year and Diane kept telling Stefan that she was going to propose following the tradition of the girl getting down on one knee instead of the boy when it happens to be a Leap Year. In the end though the pair had a lovely dinner and a bottle of champagne and decided together that they'd start to plan their wedding - Sounds pretty romantic to me!
YMC... A! Diane's beautiful wedding dress is a Charlie Brear design . The lace cap sleeves are so pretty along with the modern wrap around waist. She accessoriesed with pumps from Chez Marie in Midleton which were a cute alternative to a heel.
It looks like Diane's bridesmaids were her something blue. Keeping the same colour the girls wore slightly different styles of dresses, picked up at Debenhams (incidentally a very handy place to try if your bridesmaids are living far apart, with branches all over the place they can each try on separately rather than having to trek to each other.)
Diane incorporated pops of brilliant peachy pinks, lilac hues and yellow through her bouquet. Adding playful daisy-like camomile and craspedia (which are those cute little yellow ball flowers also know as 'billy buttons' and 'woollyheads' - How cute!)
A big surprise on the day was Diane's transport which was organised by her father-in-law and was a total surprise for the bride-to-be, as she explained "I had no intention of getting a special wedding car, I was just going to use my sister’s BMW. But a few months before the wedding, Stefan and I were watching TV and there was the most beautiful red Jaguar Mark 2 on the show we were watching. I mentioned that if I was ever going to get a car to drive me to my wedding, that would be the car I would want. I didn’t think anything of it again until one appeared in my driveway on the morning of my wedding. As a surprise, Stefan’s dad wanted to arrange a car for me and it turned out his lovely friend had the exact car that I loved and agreed to chauffeur me on the day. It was so unexpected and very special."
And doesn't Diane look right at home in her surprise wheels, what a treat. And just a quick little touch up and it's time to make the big entrance. The couple chose to tie the knot in Barnabrow rather than a church.
They chose to have a humanist ceremony. "We’re not particularly religious so we knew we weren’t going down the church route. Through work, I’d been lucky to attend a few Humanist weddings and really liked how the couples were able to put their own stamp on them...
...I also wanted something unique to us in the ceremony space. I’d seen beautiful, natural chuppah-type canopies that I loved. My sister, sister-in-law, mum and dad took it on as a project and we were married beneath it. I loved it as the chuppah symbolises the home that you are creating so it was so nice that my family made it for us." What a gift!
Just a short walk down the aisle and it was all official, and time to start celebrating in the bright sunshine of a gorgeous East Cork day.
To be honest, we're not sure if Diane actually gave that Jaguar back, she seems to have had way too much fun behind the wheel!
As a wedding photographer herself, Diane had an idea of what she wanted in her own photographer and she found her on One Fab Day! I knew when I saw the photos by Julie of Half a Dream Away on One Fab Day that she was the one for us and meeting her confirmed this. If you’re relaxed and enjoying yourself, it will shine through in the pictures and Julie captured that perfectly. Try not to view it as a chore you have to get through on the day!
The pair knew they wanted a small wedding with just their immediate families and close friends. Keeping the guest list to about 40 people they wanted a venue that would allow for everyone to mingle with a relaxed atmosphere... I’d been to weddings at Barnabrow before both as a guest and a photographer so I knew I loved the venue. The food is amazing, the setting beautiful and they let you have the run of the place so it’s a fantastic venue for a party. Also, by having the ceremony and reception all in one place, we weren’t rushing here and there, keeping us relaxed and able to spend lots of time with our guests.
It was important for Diane to make the space look a little different from the norm. As they were having such a small group, they decided to have a long banquet style table to give that Italian-style family gathering feeling. With a fun, relaxed and little bit of a rustic vibe. Which is an amazing way to spend you wedding meal don't you think?
It was the little details the couple added that made their reception more personal. From mason jars with burlap and pretty lace, beautiful roses in vases and the twinkle of candle light - perfect for a pretty banquet reception!
One of the best ideas we had was to hire a Fun Casino as surprise entertainment after the meal. With such a small group, we were a little worried that there would be a lull after dinner. It got everyone laughing and having fun together and really bridged the gap between dinner and dancing.
So what advice did Diane and Stefan have for us? Pick a photographer that you know you’re going to be relaxed with and then let them do their thing. Make a time plan for the day and print it out. The day goes really fast and having a print out that says who’s getting their hair done and when, etc. is surprisingly handy! Don’t sweat the small stuff. I forgot the cava for the drinks reception and the groomsmen’s ties were the wrong colour on the day. The cava was sorted and the ties didn’t really matter at the end of the day anyway!
The pair headed of to Geneva for a few days followed by a week in Tuscany and a week on the Amalfi Coast for their honeymoon! Congrats you two! Of course a big Thank You goes to Julie of Half a Dream Away for sharing her work with us at One Fab Day. To see more of Julie's work pop over to www.halfadreamaway.com.
The Wedding Details:
- Venue: Barnabrow Country House
- Wedding Dress: Charlie Brear
- Bridesmaids dresses: Debenhams
- Shoes: Chez Marie in Midleton
- Flowers: Ina McCarthy for Flowers
- Groomsmen’s suits: Tom Murphy Menswear
- Accessories: Earrings from Denbar Jewellers & Newbridge Silverware Bracelet
- Cheese Cake: On the Pig’s Back
- Cakes: Ballyhook Bakery
- Stationery: Jess de la Cour illustrations & Meltoma Design graphic design
- Make Up & Hair: Kate Noonan & Susan Tyrell
- DJ: DJ Riain
- Ceremony Music: Sinead Cronin
- Entertainment: Premier Fun Casino
