A Labour of Love - Laura and Bobby's Millhouse Wedding by Larry McMahon

As any bride and groom who has completed the walk up the aisle will tell you, every wedding is a labour of love. But the level of labour does vary significantly from wedding to wedding, couple to couple. In the case of today's wedding, Laura the bride, coming from a design background took on a […]

As any bride and groom who has completed the walk up the aisle will tell you, every wedding is a labour of love. But the level of labour does vary significantly from wedding to wedding, couple to couple. In the case of today's wedding, Laura the bride, coming from a design background took on a lot of work herself in creating those extra-special decorative elements so there was a little bit more labour than usual. But the end result, their Millhouse Wedding, a beautiful celebration of their relationship, was worth every moment. Laura looked ravishing, Bobby rock-star handsome and their love was a huge source of happiness to all of the guests at their intimate wedding. And none more so than their photographer Larry McMahon, as Bobby is his brother!

"We first clapped eyes on each other 14 years ago at a party but were both in relationships. We would very rarely run into each other at parties over the years, and as it turns out were always secretly attracted to each other. Nothing ever happened until eight years ago when I went to a party in Bobby's house and lost an earring there. He rang me a few days later to say he'd found it and we arranged to meet up in town so he could return it. We ended up staying out all night and the rest is history! I still have to maintain however, that I did not lose my earring on purpose! I still get a lot of flack for that..." A likely story, Laura. Go on, we believe you, thousands obviously don't...

We had been together for 7 years and I had been dropping huge hints for ages. I even gave him a picture of the exact ring I absolutely had to have. One day we headed into town for lunch. Along the way we spotted a lovely antique ring in the window of a jewellers and paused to take a look. Expecting to be dragged away as per usual, Bobby shocked me by suggesting I try it on! Taking advantage of the situation, I did, along with almost every other ring in the shop! Nothing felt right and we were about to leave until we saw a lovely Art Deco solitaire. It wasn’t the flashiest ring and was nothing like the ring I had obsessed over forever but it called to us and felt like it was “mine”. Next thing I knew, I was walking out of the shop with it on my finger! Neither of us expected it to happen that day and Bobby ended up having to finally ask me as we crossed the road after making the purchase. After so long together and so many expectations, it ended up being a lovely spontaneous way for it to happen, although I think he had hoped to take me away to do the deed" Who says you need moonlight and roses, the best engagement stories are the most natural...

The Millhouse was the one and only venue we went to see. We had stayed here previously and fell in love with the surroundings and laid back atmosphere. We wanted somewhere who would serve up plenty of good food and where we could have the run of the house for a couple of days without having to fork out a ridiculous amount of money for the pleasure. The staff were amazing and are so accommodating.

Talk about glamorous goddesses! Laura wore a beautiful one-shoulder grecian style silk sheath Jenny Packham gown with slash front detailing, which paired with her loosely curled side pony gave her an almost ethereal Midsummer's Night Dream look. But she certainly wasn't a bride to put her best girls in anything dowdy. To complement her look,  she kitted her bridesmaids out in gowns from Ghost - they are doing a great range of long silk gowns in a variety of colours and necklines - choosing a soft taupe-mocha tone which suited all three girls perfectly.

The ceremony took place in the converted mill beside the house itself. Laura works in design and merchandising to creating elements to add to the look of the occasion was really important, so for the ceremony she created a fabric backdrop which added a decorative focal point during the ceremony. (If you like this idea - have a look at some beautiful examples of ceremony backdrops we collated)

Surrounded by family and friends, in this beautiful space, they made their vows to each other... And afterwards a few minutes alone (accompanied only by the brother Larry of course) they wandered round the grounds and gardens of The Millhouse, which is located on the banks of the River Boyne just at the bridge in Slane, so it enjoys beautiful pastoral views over the surrounding hills and fields.

And after a few moments alone, they returned to the wedding party, and the festivities to began in earnest. Taking advantage of the fine weather, the couple chose to have their speeches outside in the garden before the meal began (meaning all the guys could enjoy their food without the old butterfly tummies).

It is really difficult to pick a favourite moment, we were on a high all day. A big highlight was the lovely ceremony as it was all a bit of an unplanned afterthought but was unexpectedly beautiful, complete with a tiny Swallow which was flying around above us. Although, my absolute favourite memory has to be Bobby's amazing, romantic off the cuff speech, which had some girls swooning and the rest of us in tears!

After the speeches it was time to head to the marquee, a space Laura had spent a lot of time and effort on in a real labour of love... "For me, one of the main concerns from the get go was how the wedding looked. I spent a year trawling through amazing wedding blogs such as One Fab Day, Style Me Pretty, Ruffled, etc and found so many inspiring weddings. By the time the our wedding came around I had so many different ideas that my head spun! My family and I are from England originally and I was mostly inspired by the idea of an English country fete so we went for some rustic elements mixed with a touch of vintage. Our menu choice was a tapas buffet later followed by barbeque food and salads which was served to long family style tables. I really wanted to fill the room with masses of blooms and our florist filled the tables to the brim with them, so much so there wasn't much room left for the food! The centrepieces were bathroom accessories from Ikea filled with peonies, hydrangea, craspedia and roses.

Laura's natural flair for design shines through in all the little details, and these are all very achievable - the letters are available from Hickeys, the Penguin postcards in most bookshops, the booktable numbers are very simple to do, but even a professional has to cut their cloth, and Laura has a few lessons to share: "I work in the display department in Arnotts so had great plans to make all sorts of DIY pieces and decorations for the day but in the end I simply didn't have time or the will so actually dropped a few projects the day before the wedding.  I did however, make all the stationery, framed table plans, and table numbers from old books.  Our guestbook was a postcard guestbook and my Mum's friend kindly made our lovely daisy cake and some mismatched bunting. I also made a torn fabric ceremony backdrop and had envisioned candles dotted around the floor beneath it. Unfortunately, somebody decided to place a huge table in front of it minutes before the ceremony which did somewhat spoil the look I was going for, but I was so relaxed on the day I actually didn't notice until I saw the photographs!  

I'd recommend keeping DIY projects to a minimum unless you have tons of spare time! Personal touches are lovely and people do notice them but I was pretty stressed the day before the wedding and had to abandon a few ideas. I had originally planned to do everything, including my own flowers but was so thankful that I abandoned that notion since our florist did such a beautiful job!"

We at OFD add a huge endorsement to this advice - do not stress yourself out with DIY, do what you can in the time you have, be realistic but don't kill yourself. Your wedding will be fabulous, with or without all the bits and pieces.

What advice would you give to brides and grooms planning their day? "Don't be afraid to have a small and intimate wedding. We had 65 guests and had the luxury of being able to spend quality time with each and every one of them. As a rule of thumb, we only invited people who we had both met and whom at least one of us was close to, and never let anyone pressure us into inviting anyone who didn't fit the criteria! We were a little bit concerned running up to the day that a band and a DJ would be too much for such a relatively small number of guests and that the venue may feel empty and lacking atmosphere, but this wasn't an issue at all on the day. The band had the dancefloor filled from the first song and the small numbers actually added to the party atmosphere as everyone of all ages interacted with each other and there were no cliques left sitting in the corner."

So all in all, sounds like the perfect way to celebrate if you ask me. Congratulations Laura and Bobby, your wedding was certainly a labour of love and looked amazing in every way.

So all there is to say now is Thank You to Larry McMahon for sharing his work with us today, of course pop over to www.larrymcmahonphotography.com to see lots more gorgeousness..

All the Wedding Details

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