Old & New - Eoin and Sal's Ballyroe Heights Hotel Wedding by Katie Kavanagh

Eoin and Sal's Summer Ballyroe Heights Hotel wedding blended the old with the new - Sal's parents were married there 30 years before, but this couple added their own twists to a traditional formula

At OneFabDay our wedding ethos is all about "doing it your own way"-  moulding your wedding into a celebration of  , this means keeping traditions that mean something to you, and adding those elements that make it really personal. Having your wedding reception in the same hotel as your parents? What could be more traditional or lovely than that? Add an ice-cream van, an amazing dress, groomsmen with a sense of their own style, and the cutest little fishy cake toppers and you get a sense of how Eoin and Sal made their wedding a real reflection of their lifes and style - a really fun wedding captured by Katie Kavanagh in the Kingdom of Kerry...

Eoin and Sal were nearly dancing down the aisle, but apparently it didn't start off that well, a little of the Scarlett and Rhett about these two... "Eoin and I met in 2007 when we both worked in Croke Park. When we first met it most certainly wasn’t love at first sight, in fact we had little time for one another. However after a few staff drinks nights we got talking and eventually hit it off. We had our first kiss on 17th August 2007 and five years later on 17th August 2012 we got married. 

Eoin proposed on 2011. Apparently he had planned to do it in September when we were on holiday in Spain but we’d gotten into an argument and he lost his nerve. The actual proposal was a bit messy, we’d planned to head to Glendalough for a hike, but en route the heavens opened and I got a migraine so we turned for home. The following morning the weather had cleared and we decided to head to Glendalough again, when we arrived I’d gotten another migraine and was almost afraid to tell him that all I wanted to do was go home and get into bed. We did go home and I went to bed to sleep off the migraine. I got up that evening at about 7pm and was sitting on the couch in my bedclothes when Eoin pulled out a ring and proposed. I think by this point he was quite frustrated with the whole thing! It was all very random but very perfect.

We had discussed getting married every so often and Eoin knew that I always wanted a vintage engagement ring. Eoin proposed with a swarovski ring but we made plans to head into town and try some vintage jewellery shops. We found my 1930’s art deco ring from France in Grey’s Antique jewellers just off Grafton Street. Every time I look at my engagement ring I love it more and more...

Buying a wedding dress is supposed to be a magical experience but to be honest I found the whole experience quite frustrating. I took a few days off work and myself and one of my bridesmaids blitzed about 12 wedding dress shops. We tried every style of dress! I had seen a few dresses that I liked but I found the perfect dress at my very last dress appointment with the Little White Dress in Castleknock. Janet, the shop owner, has an amazing sense of style and was a breath of fresh air. My Lara Hannah 1940’s inspired ‘Elizabeth’ dress was perfect, very simple and elegant. It’s a cliche but I knew as soon as it was on that it was the dress for me but just to be sure we discussed its merits over a bottle of prosecco! 

The dress had actually caught my eye at one of the wedding show catwalk shows however I thought no more of it as I wasn’t sure it would fit me. I altered the neckline of the dress which was a brave move as the original neckline was quite dramatic. Because the dress was so simple and classic I wore a beautiful handmade vintage inspired birdcage that I found on etsy, in fact I bought two headpieces but I loved the birdcage too much to change into the second headpiece, so I wore the birdcage all day and probably would have worn it the following day if I could have gotten away with it!

Simple bouquets of billy balls and camomile provided a beautiful pop of colour and set off Sal's gorgeous gown perfectly...

The highlight of the day for me was the wedding ceremony. We got married in Churchill, a small country chapel near Fenit in Kerry which looks out onto Tralee Bay. Luckily the rain held off and we were treated to some amazing views before and after the ceremony. Our priest was equally amazing telling jokes and putting everyone at ease, all the photos in the Church are of everyone laughing! Our ceremony music was provided by my friend Pauline who made the ceremony so much more special by singing an unbelievable version of one of my favourite songs, ‘Chasing Cars’ by Snow Patrol. After the ceremony Eoin surprised me and our guests by arranging for an Ice Cream van to sell ice cream, this was a massive hit with everyone!

I think there may be a few tear fighting through there...

Good man Eoin arranging the ice-cream van, seems like the treat went down very well with the guests...

...though maybe don't give up the day job just yet...

Then it was down to the beach (man, that's a rocky one!) for the wedding party portraits.

It hasn't escaped our notice that the lads opted for a semi-formal look for their attire, leaving the ties aside and wearing plimsolls, and when you see them all in action, it all makes sense, these are clearly fun-time guys. Lovely to see them being themselves and comfortable rather than trussed up and aching to break out of stuffy suits. A lesson here for any grooms planning their outfits - be yourselves.

After a few laughs, it's down to the serious business of partying with the rest of the guests...

Ballyroe Heights is a well known and excellent wedding venue in Kerry and my parents were married there so we really wanted to incorporate that sense of tradition into the wedding. Myself and Eoin started making wedding plans almost immediately. We had a budget but we knew that we wanted the wedding to show off our personalities. The theme was vintage and the colour scheme evolved naturally as it was a summer wedding I wanted the colours to be as bright as possible so they ended up being turquoise, cerise and vintage champagne. 

The tables were decorated with vintage crockery and table clothes from Pearl and Godiva, Daisies in jam jars that we spray-painted white, table numbers in white frames that I bought from Ikea and Cootie Catchers that I painstakingly made featuring factoids about Eoin and I. As a museum professional the vintage theme appealed to my love of all things old. Some of the plates I used to make my cupcake stands belonged to my grand mother and great grandmother!

The invites that we sent out were designed by our friend Oisin and they immediately gave people a taster for what was to come! Oisin also designed place names and menus. For a wedding favour each guest place setting included a badge to wear with a saying on it, carefully thought out sayings to reflect our upbringing and respective counties - Kerry and Waterford - these went down a storm with the guests! The flowers were done by Eoin’s mother and aunts who used to have a Florists in Tramore. The bouquets and buttonholes were various forms of daisy and billy balls. For the bunting I bought different fabrics and my mother spent hours sewing them.

The wedding cake took the form of a desert table with cupcakes, macrons, cake pops and cookies all made by the amazing Cloudberry Bakery in Kerry. We knew that we didn’t want a tiered wedding cake but we did want some element of tradition, so my nan made a traditional wedding cake and my sister-in-law iced it. Both myself and Eoin love tropical fish, we have a salt water aquarium with a 'nemo' and are currently diving in Bali on honeymoon so we used two fish in love as our cake topper (knitted by an Etsy seller cherrytime) 

What advice would you give to brides and grooms planning their day?  "I would advise any couples getting married to incorporate as many personal touches into their wedding as possible. Also if you have any family members or friends with special talents, use them!! Eoin's mother and Aunts did the amazing flowers, my mother made the bunting, my amazing friend Pauline sang for the wedding ceremony, my Nan made the traditional wedding cake, our friend Oisin did all the stationary and badges and my carpenter brother drilled holes in plates to make cake stands! Our wedding was so special because so many people went out of their way to make it special!"

So there you have it - a lovely blend of tradition and creativity - Congratulations Eoin and Sal, and much love from us all at OneFabDay...

And of course a big thank you to Katie Kavanagh for sharing her work on Eoin and Sal's day with us... lots more to see on www.katiekav.com

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