Today's gorgeous real wedding features Shirley and Tom an Irish bride and English groom who fell in love as flatmates in London. They also fell in love with the idea of an outdoor wedding at Powerscourt House - a place that, as it turned out, had a special significance to both of their families. The weather played ball on the day with the sun shining for their personalised (and emotional) ceremony, as well as their post-dinner Chinese tea ceremony. A fusion celebration with an East meets West theme and lovely nods to the bride's Chinese culture, Love Like Crazy documented all the beautiful style and unique details from Shirley and Tom's big day.

Ever thought about your room mates as relationship material? Shirley and Tom first met in London in 2011 as flat mates! “At the time, I was living in a flat share just off Borough High Street in London and we needed a new flatmate. So we met after Shirley replied to the advert on spareroom.com - a slightly different take on internet dating!”

The pair hit it off pretty quickly, “It didn’t take very long for our relationship to blossom into something more than just flatmates,” recalls Shirley, “We have been flatmates/housemates ever since!”

This ceremony set-up in the gardens at Powerscourt House are just stunning!

Tom tells us about how he planned his proposal to Shirley in January 2017, “We’d just had a huge expense because we’d just bought our first house a few months before, but I had put money aside for buying Shirley a ring. She’d dropped some very unsubtle hints as to what she wanted so I had a good guide and after finding the right ring I then had to come up with a plan of how I was going to pop the question. I decided that a good place to do it would be Bath – which was our first holiday destination and a city that we both love. So I found out a date Shirley was free and then booked everything for our trip. Now the only problem was getting Shirley to the location without her suspecting anything.”

Tom, a regular competition winner, told Shirley he’d won a weekend break “I told her that the prize was a weekend near Bristol, and in order to keep it a surprise, I couldn’t tell her any more information and she couldn’t ask me any questions about it! It worked a treat and she had no idea what was going to happen. And most importantly she said yes.”

The couple had a clear checklist of how their wanted their day to look and feel, “An intimate outdoor wedding with family and friends. A personalised ceremony with a beautiful view. A celebration of friendship and love and East meets West, a blending of two cultures.”

The couple describe their celebrant Simone as ‘fantastic’, “She created a bespoke ceremony for us which consisted of ring warming (our wedding rings were passed around the guests during the ceremony), hand-binding (we gave each parent a coloured ribbon to tie our hands) and we wrote our own vows. The ceremony felt truly special and intimate. There wasn’t a dry eye in sight.”

Tom’s stepfather Tim composed a piece of guitar music just for the wedding, called Shirley’s Wedding Song, “Tim played the song in two ways. Firstly, softly while Shirley walked up the aisle. And then he played a more upbeat, celebratory version as we walked down the aisle at the end of the ceremony.”

These two are obviously a popular pair among all who know them!

Shirley also has some nuggets of wisdom to pass on to other brides about planning their wedding day look, “Wear a white top with a similar neckline to your wedding dress for your hair and make up trial. Doing that will give you an idea of how you will look on your wedding day. When picking your veil be mindful of where you will be wearing it. If your ceremony is going to be outside and there’s gravel, just remember that the veil will catch on gravel as your walking, so just a heads up if you are thinking of going for a very delicate and intricate veil.”

Gorgeous bride Shirley wore a sleeveless lace gown with a sheer neckline, and matched the silhouette with her bridesmaids in elegant blush pink.

Now *that's* a view!

When they started planning, Tom and Shirley tell us that finding the right venue was their top priority, “We knew if we found the perfect one, everything else would just follow. We made sure to look for a venue that was accessible, as we would be having friends and family travelling from the UK. We also wanted a venue with a beautiful garden were we would be able to have our wedding ceremony outside. Lastly, choosing a month with the least amount of rainfall was on top of our list because we wanted to make sure we could have our ceremony outside. Tom looked it all up and July came out as the winner!”

As Shirley’s grandmother lives nearby, she’d been to Powerscourt House many times over the years, “I first brought Tom back in 2012 after we walked to Powerscourt Waterfall. Tom and I have always loved visiting Powerscourt because it is just so beautiful. We had been visiting different venues in the UK and Ireland and during one of our visits home, we were having lunch at Avoca in Powerscourt House and Tom had said how lovely it would be to have our wedding here. At the time neither of us knew we could have our wedding at Powerscourt House. When we found we could, we arranged a meeting with the venue straight away and didn’t have to think twice about booking it."

It turned out, despite being from Leicestershire Tom also had a family connection to the venue, “Tom’s Dad had told us that he and his younger siblings use to play at Powerscourt House when the were children (his Dad had lived in Killarney until he was ten years old before they all moved back to the UK). At the time, the house looked completely different to how it does now, following the fire in 1974. Tom’s paternal family were very excited that our wedding venue was to be at Powerscourt House and Gardens, especially his grandmother.”

What a stunner! I just love Shirley's beautiful cloud-like boutique, it also had something of an East Meets West feel with orchids and peonies.

This pair say it’s important not to rush into booking things, “Take your time visiting venues. Make it into fun weekend away trips. Choose suppliers who are passionate and have the same vision as you. Meet up with them and chat to them before booking. Don’t pick suppliers who pressurise you into things you don’t want or change the vision you had for your wedding. Be organised. Set a realistic budget.”

The couple’s cat in London made a cameo in the celebrations, “The best men made a collage of Tom and Bruce (our cat),” Shirley tells us, “We weren’t able to bring Bruce over for the wedding (though we tried) so it was lovely to have pictures of him on the tables.”

To incorporate Shirley’s Chinese culture, the couple held a Chinese tea ceremony after the wedding meal, “We both changed into traditional Chinese wedding clothing and presented tea to our parents and grandparents. During the tea ceremony, we would thank our parents and grandparents for supporting and looking after us and promise to look after each other. After the parents and grandparents have drank the tea, they give us well wishes, marital advice and lucky money in red envelopes. When the parent or grandparent drinks the tea, it means that the family accepts the person into the family.”

There was a homage to the Chinese tea ceremony in the favours too, “We had pairs of Oolong tea bags in each small red paper lantern boxes (assembled by Shirley’s Mum and her lovely friends) with the Chinese double happiness symbol on the boxes. The double happiness symbol symbolises joy, luck and propitiousness. It is traditionally used on wedding days.”

The night before the wedding, Shirley’s mum held a traditional Chinese hair combing ceremony at home, “Usually lots of people are invited to it but I wanted to keep it small so just had my immediate family present,” explains the bride. “During the ceremony, Mum combed my hair ten times and during each comb she would say traditional wedding well wishes (regarding marriage, happiness and children). Dad made us red-bean glutinous rice balls in a dessert soup. This was to symbolise and wish our relationship to be full of sweetness.”

Thanks so much to Shirley and Tom for sharing your day with the and to Love Like Crazy for documenting it so beautiful. Hit the gallery below to see even more from their day.