Today's real wedding has extra special meaning to me as it was the wedding of my lovely cousin Ellie. It was a brilliant day and it was all captured by the amazing Siobhan Byrne. All of  Ellie's hard work paid off (planning a wedding when your fiance lives in America can't have been easy!) but it all went off without a hitch. All of the little details were extremely important to Ellie and she definitely got her crafting hat on in the run up to the big day.

But first how did the paths of an Irish cailin and a Tennessee boy cross? Ellie filled me in on her whirlwind romance: "Here's the sceal... it's short and sweet: Matt came with his Pastor from Tennessee as a visitor one Sunday. I was convinced he was married because I thought he had a wedding band on his hand?! We went as a group to dinner and thought nothing more of it." 8 weeks later, Ellie and Matt were put in contact with each other and asked to organise a church trip and so the story begins. They had absolutely nothing prepared for the trip but they were madly in love!

We love a good old fashioned romance and with between emails, facebook and lots of skype calls, Ellie and Matt's relationship blossomed. Matt knew Ellie was the one for him and on a trip to Ireland he popped the question. "We have different stories about how the proposal went. I thought I reacted fine but according to Matt he had a slight heart attack when he saw my facial expression when he got down on one knee! We went into Dublin for dinner, took a stroll around town and were headed back to get the train home. When we got to O’Connell bridge Matt wanted to stop and take a moment to look at the view - I thought he was just being a crazy tourist and wanted him to just hurry up so I could get home and have a cup of tea. Next thing the crazy is down on one knee. Scarlet! It really was beautiful, everyone passing was congratulating us and the scene was spectacular. Next time I'll react differently!

Every bride has a vision for her day and Ellie knew the vibe that she wanted to achieve right from the get-go: "I really wanted a relaxed down to earth, no fuss wedding. I love weddings but I wanted to keep it fun and realistic. My aim was to have a day of fun and celebration." A trip to town led to the sorting of the bridesmaids dresses which also helped Ellie decide on her colour scheme. Because the dresses were grey, she wanted to accent them with a bright and cheery colour. She went for yellow and it all tied together beautifully on the big day.

This picture is so special. It is the three generations of women in Ellie's family (the bride, her mammy and her grandmother). It is such a wonderful keepsake to have.

Picking the dress is usually quite an ordeal, but not for Ellie..."I went into De Stafford Bridal and they happened to be having a sample sale that day. Everyone in there was more than helpful -20 minutes later I walked out with my dress and went for lunch with my Mom, sister and Nana. The theme of keep it relaxed and realistic started from the beginning! Ellie's Mum, my talented Auntie Ber, added a little something special to the dress too - a beautiful hand stitched date as Ellie's something blue for on the inside of her dress. Love it!

We are always curious with the real weddings we show, if  their families or friends lent a helping hand on the day. We love to hear about everyones secret talents. When it came to Ellie and Matt's wedding, this was definitely the case. Everyone lent a helping hand. From a gifted sweet table, ten handmade chocolate biscuit cakes and homemade jams for the favours, it was 100% a family and friends' affair. Ellie came up with such a sweet idea for her order of service. As she is a primary school teacher she got her pupils involved in the excitement of the big day, they had great fun doing drawings and doodles of what they thought the day would be like. Ellie ended up using one of their drawings as the artwork which turned out to be really cute.

After the service, we were all invited into the gorgeous little parish hall which had been decked out in handmade bunting and were served tea and delicious cupcakes. This was a great time for Ellie and Matt to mingle and chat with their guests while we were all tucking into all the sweet treats. It is a great idea to have a cake reception after the service to have some time with anyone who came along to the service but aren't attending the dinner.

Speaking of dinner, the food on the day was very important to this lovely couple. "Both of our families love food.... we aimed to keep our guests eating from immediately after the service until the end of the night! We had a dessert reception provided by a family friend, an ice cream van and a sweet table all before our fantastic meal." And I can personally vouch for all of the food and say it was all amazing. We certainly didn't go hungry on the day!

Ellie looked absolutely stunning in her De Stafford gown and her soft and simple rose bouquet really complimented the whole ensemble.

That is the smile of a very happy newlywed!

What about the very dapper groom? What tasks did he take charge of?  "Matt made the wedding invites in America. Again we kept them simple with no fuss. This was fun, as I only saw them when they arrived to my house printed and ready to go." Brave move Ellie, but it turned out really well.

We love when we spot OFD details in our real weddings. Have you seen our free finger print tree printable? Ellie and Matt used it as their guestbook and it was such a fun detail which everyone was talking about on the day.

With so many gorgeous little details and cute ideas we were curious to know which parts of the day the couple cherished most. "We know its so cliche but we cant choose one favourite moment! For both of us the vows meant a lot. Finally reaching the moment where you are together forever in front of family, friends and God was amazing. Having my father perform the vows made it extra special!"

So we asked Ellie if she had any last words of advice for brides who are deep in the depths of planning. Here's what she had to say... "Don’t rush anything. Take your time and enjoy every single second of your day. It does go by fast but if you take time to have fun and enjoy it, you will remember every moment of that day. We laughed so much and had such fun, it was perfect."  Well done and thank you to the super talented Siobhan Byrne for sharing these fab images with us. And I just have to say you looked gorgeous Ellie, the day was amazing and the whole family are so happy for you.

All the Wedding Details