I love summer sun as much as the next, but at heart I'm a winter fan and always adore those more dark and dreamy winter weddings. So today I naturally fell for Olivia and Brian's effortlessly romantic winter wedding at Longueville House. A relaxed and intimate celebration of just 65 people, this wedding sparkles from beginning to end and is captured perfectly by the talented Pawel Bebenca.

Olivia tells us how she and Brian met..."So clichéd, but we met at the gym. Then one night we bumped into each other in the Workmans Club in town and things just went from there. He used the worst chat up line - I don’t know how I fell for it. He said “I’ve really noticed you in the class”. I was the only girl in the class so no wonder he noticed me!"

That dress...

Enamoured with the gorgeous Olivia, Brian decided on an impromptu proposal on holidays travelling Asia. Olivia remembers..."The proposal wasn’t planned but it turned out to be quite romantic. We were travelling in Asia and were in a lovely hotel in Borneo. We had gone out on a sunset cruise that evening and then went back to the rooftop restaurant to have dinner. The moon was really bright that night, turns out it was a blue moon, every time I see one now I think of the night we got engaged. He asked me to marry him over dinner and I got to choose the engagement ring when we got back to Dublin. I loved picking my ring, definitely one of my favourite parts of the process."

Keeping things intimate and romantic Olivia and Brian chose to have a small wedding at Longueville House with just 65 of their friends and family. Olivia remembers..."I wanted it to be fun, romantic and relaxed. We had 65 guests and everything felt really intimate. I just remember being so happy. I felt I was breathing something different to air."

Marrying in November, Olivia and Brian were still keen to get some wedding photos in the sunlight and so opted for a first look before their vows. Olivia recalls..."I wanted to get pictures in the daylight, which in November and with a 3pm ceremony would have been quite tricky if we had waited until after we were married, so we did a first look at 12. I love those pictures and it was great to have some time just the two of us alone (well with Pawel) out in the gardens on the day of the wedding before things got too busy. It was the only time Brian and I had together on our own for the rest of the day. We didn’t want to do a first dance either-neither of us are great dancers and we didn’t want the pressure of learning a dance routine so we had a céilí instead and everyone joined us for the first dance which I really loved."

Adding some extra winter warmth to their day Olivia and Brian chose a rich red colour palette which was incorporated into the flowers by Bloomsday Flowers and Olivia's girls bridesmaid dresses. Smitten with her bouquet Olivia decided not to throw it and instead gifted it to her grandmother. She explains..."I decided not to throw my bouquet. (It was too pretty to throw anyway!) I wanted to honour my granny so I gave it to her after dinner as she had the longest marriage in the room." Such a sweet little idea!

The elegant ceremony was held within Longueville House with some happy tears and a heartfelt personalised reading by Brian's sister Niamh.

Olivia explains what made Longueville so perfect for them..."The Turner conservatory, the food and the staff. Longueville house is simply amazing. We visited a couple of times before the wedding and every time felt so relaxed. I found Longueville House on One Fab Day in the top 100 venues guide and I loved the idea of the conservatory - it looked magical lit up at night, so we went down to visit. Brian is a chef so the food was really important to him. All of their food is either grown in their own gardens or raised locally and everything tasted amazing! I still dream about their dessert table. The staff are so friendly and professional-nothing is ever any trouble. They have their own cider too which is delicious so we ended up doing a Hot Mulled Cider on the day of the wedding. Aisling, the owner of the house was brilliant throughout the planning and on the day of the wedding everything ran like clockwork."

Incorporating a subtle bird theme Olivia and Brian made a bird table plan and Olivia used a unique bird adorned ring box. She remembers..."I work in India a lot and I picked up my ring box in a shop in Delhi, it’s gold with little birds on it. I wanted to have a keepsake from the day and I plan on passing it down as a little family tradition."

To end the night guests enjoyed an impressive wedding cake made by Olivia's cousin before having a magical sparkler send off for Olivia and Brian. Olivia and Brian then honeymooned right away in Thailand, an idea they wouldn't fully recommend..."I wouldn’t recommend going on honeymoon straight after the wedding. So many people told me this but I didn’t listen thinking that I really needed a holiday. The problem was that I was so exhausted from the wedding that Brian and I slept for 12 hours each night for the first week of the honeymoon."

Huge congratulations to you both and thanks so much for sharing your winter wedding with us all. A big thank you also goes to Pawel Bebenca for sharing his work with us. To see more from Pawel Bebenca visit www.pawelbebenca.com

The Wedding Details

• Bridesmaids dresses: Lulus
• Wedding Dress: Adorn Bridal
• Shoes: Kurt Geiger
• Shirts: M&S
• Hair Clip: Rhinestones

• Stationery: Minted and Not On The High Street
• Make Up: Laurence Keating
• Hair: Donna at Pin-Up Hair
• Wedding Bands: Lloyd Breetzke from Irish Design Shop
• Ceremony/Reception Music: Verge Trio
• Céilí Band: Arundo