It's no secret I hail from Meath (I am not a GAA head before you say anything) and am very proud of my beautiful county, so today's beautiful real wedding is a joy to present - it's the Bellinter House wedding of Dan & Carolyn, which took place on a glorious Summer's day among the […]

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It's no secret I hail from Meath (I am not a GAA head before you say anything) and am very proud of my beautiful county, so today's beautiful real wedding is a joy to present - it's the Bellinter House wedding of Dan & Carolyn, which took place on a glorious Summer's day among the rolling hills of the Royal County.

Therese Aherne was there to capture the magic, and we are delighted to show her lovely work and Dan & Carolyn's lovely day...

Carolyn is every inch the stylee bride, with her dress from Vera Wang, and her sparkly Jimmy Choos, she's living every girls designer dream...

So give us the goss, how did you two get together? "We met in 2005 at the aftershow party for the Budrising festival in Crawdaddy. Carolyn had blagged her way in, and Dan was working for the band The Concretes and was in Dublin for a day. She chatted him up helped by dutch courage and a free bar. Dan moved to Dublin six months later!"

Dan knows how to keep his girl happy, having arranged for Carolyn's favourite car - a vintage silver Citroen DS - to be her stylish ride to the church.

One final look before heading off to the waiting guests for the wedding ceremony...

Rathfeigh Church has featured before on the blog, as one of the most beautiful churches in Ireland, and as my home parish church is very dear to my heart, as I'm sure it now is for Carolyn & Dan... (and before you ask, Carolyn's Dad sketched the church design for the order of service below - talented man.)

The flowers were a combination of Carolyn's favourite colours and chosen to have an “out of the garden” style as if plucked that morning from a meadow, an effect The French Touch certainly achieved...

Carolyn & Dan both agreed that the ceremony was the most important part of the day for them, being really personal with a family friend as priest officiating, and held in the intimate setting of Rathfeigh church.

After being showered in sweet-scented lavender confetti, the couple headed off, with their wedding photographer Therese Ahern, for some intimate moments, and their wedding portraits and you'll never guess where they went...

It won't mean much to most of you but this is a very special spot for me - it's where my better half to be proposed to me (sorry Carolyn, Dan, don't mean to be hogging your feature!!)

It's the Hill of Skryne, just across from Tara, and you may also recognise the pub peeking out from behind Carolyn & Dan, from the Christmas Guinness Ad!

Once the question had been popped and the ring produced,Bellinter House for the wedding reception was an easy choice, as Carolyn & Dan had stayed there as a surprise for Dan’s 30^th birthday "we both fell in love with it and secretly thought that if we got married it had to be there!" So no laborious venue search then, on to the important stuff...

Ensuring their wedding had a personal touch was very important to Dan & Carolyn so they worked hard in the run up to the day "We both liked the idea of using vintage bits and pieces such as using jam jars to hold the flowers upstairs, and the placeholders at the meal, which we spent hours making ourselves!"

Here's a nifty way little wedding DIY tip - this lovely wedding cake is actually made of 3 simple white cakes from M&S, but cleverly decorated with flowers and a vintage-style tea cup from Avoca. Simples!

Music formed a very important element of the day as Carolyn is a DJ so "the DJ Dave Glennon was a friend of ours and for the dinner music, we spent hours recording songs from our parents vinyl collection as we really wanted to incorporate them into the day somehow. The string quartet (Astral) were also friends of ours and they were fantastic, playing our favourite songs during the ceremony and at the drinks reception. They even played Metallica for Dan!" Nice!

So what advice do Carolyn & Dan have for others about to embark on the journey? "Don’t sweat the small stuff, at the end of the day if the colour of the napkins doesn’t match the bridesmaids dresses it’s not the end of the world! Always keep your sense of humour. Oh and make sure to let the parents organise the tableplans, it’s just easier" So speaks a voice of experience...