Today's real wedding is a homeward bound story of a couple who, though born in London, are both of Irish parentage so wanted to celebrate their wedding with a shindig on the aul' sod. It's sort of like the Irish versiona of My Big Fat Greek Wedding: A Big Irish Family Hooley. But that title is […]

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Today's real wedding is a homeward bound story of a couple who, though born in London, are both of Irish parentage so wanted to celebrate their wedding with a shindig on the aul' sod. It's sort of like the Irish versiona of My Big Fat Greek Wedding: A Big Irish Family Hooley. But that title is hilariously bad at describing the pure elegance of Susan & Ciaran's 50s-inspired celebration at Mount Falcon.

Amy French from Rubistyle Photography was the lady chosen to capture this lovely wedding of soft light and beautiful details...

Susan and Ciaran don't live in Mayo, but they had special reasons to celebrate there... "Although we were both born in London, our parents are Irish and we decided early on that we wanted an Irish celebration — a great big party with all our friends and relatives! We chose to get married in Crossmolina as my Grandmother lives next door to the church (no chance of me being late!) and we were delighted when we found Mount Falcon, a fabulous but intimate venue a short distance away."

So how did you two meet? "We met in a well known, but admittedly not very glamorous, London-Irish night spot called Dicey Reilly’s. Ciaran was over an hour late for our first date; however, luckily for him my time keeping is not much better so I was just about ready by the time he arrived. Obviously all's well that ends well because a few years later... "Ciaran proposed on Sydney Harbour, which was near where we lived. Ciaran decided to do the honourable thing and ask for my Father’s permission first, unfortunately my shocked Father's response was “I had better check with her Mother”, so Ciaran was left to sweat it out for a couple of minutes before the return call giving him the go ahead!"

Aw bless, thank goodness for Ciaran that Mammy gave it the seal of approval!

The entire bridal party was kitted out in gorgeous coordinating boat neck, tea-length wedding dresses, so feminine and flattering, they were top of Susan's list from the start. "Despite being quite indecisive at times, I knew that I wanted a 50’s style dress from the outset. However, I was quickly disappointed when I couldn’t find anything suitable in the bridal shops. Luckily, I found Dana Bolton, a London based wedding dress maker who specialises in 50’s style dresses. I ended up choosing the first dress Dana showed me - it was perfect! " If you're searching for similar check out these designers who have lots of 50s style wedding dresses on offer...

Audrey Hepburn eat your heart out...

Ladies I salute you - some super heels to add a little irreverence to a classic bridesmaid look - best of both worlds!

One needs a car to go next door to the church - a proper standard must be maintained at all times...

The wedding ceremony was very much a family affair with one of Susan's Aunts playing the organ at the church and a cousin of her Grandmother helping to co-celebrate at the service, finishing "with a blessing that involved the whole congregation, quite unusual and became a bit of a talking point afterwards."

One of the specific things Susan wanted for their wedding, was a look that stood the test of time, "we tried to incorporate a 50’s feel to the day. My grandmother has a picture in her house of her sister's wedding in America in the 1950’s and I have always thought it looked so timeless. I loved the idea of a wedding that would still look classic as the decades passed." I think they definitely achieved their desire, these classic portraits could be from any decade, they evoke that age old idea of bride & groom and have me singing all those "going to the chapel" style songs in my head...

And any words of wisdom from Susan? "Trust your suppliers, they do this week in week and out and really are the experts. Equally, your friends and family are there to support you and won’t let you down - even the sometimes unruly best man was impeccably behaved on the day. Also, wearing a shorter dress was great - I didn’t have to worry about it dragging on the floor or anybody stepping on it!"

And the couple's favourite moment was an unusual one to say the least... "Watching my uncles tear it up on the dance floor - hilarious! Strangely enough, given that I had been dreading it, I really enjoyed our first dance. With everyone around us having a great time we couldn’t help but enjoy it."

Congratulations to Susan & Ciaran - thanks so much for sharing your gorgeous day with us, happy marriage guys!

And Huge Thanks to Amy from Rubistyle Photography, whose images I think you can agree are a perfect record of this classic occasion... Check out Amy's other work over on Rubistyle Photography if you're in the market for a photographer, and you will uncover a treasure trove...

All the Wedding Details...