Well we're back in the OFD office after a whirlwind week of photo shoots and School of Chic classes and we have the perfect love story to ease us back into office mode with the very sweet courtship of Claire and Ed. It all started down under in Australia, after a date in an Irish bar (of course) and some adventures in the outback they were official. Fast forward 5 years and Claire and Ed are saying I do in the lovely Larchfield Estate.

By

Good Evening Everyone! So we're back in the OFD office after a whirlwind week of photoshoots and School of Chic classes and boy have we missed the blogging so it's a delight to be able to share a perfect love story to ease us back into office mode. The very sweet courtship of Claire and Ed started all the way down under in Australia, after a date in an Irish bar (of course) and some adventures in the outback they were official. Fast forward 5 years and Claire and Ed are saying I do in the lovely Larchfield Estate. With friends and family meeting in Northern Ireland to celebrate these much anticipated nuptials, the couple celebrated in style and asked Janine Walker to capture all the love floating in the air...

To tell us how love blossomed the lovely bride and groom have a limerick (of sorts)... She was nursing, he was surfing. Ocean Beach hostel is where it all began. His friends couldn’t understand a word she said. The first date was in an Irish bar, St Patricks day 2006. To watch Ireland vs England in the 6 Nations Rugby (Ireland won by the way). A month later he had ditched his friends and she flew to Brisbane so they could travel together. They went snorkling at the Great Barrier Reef, tree surfing at Cape Tribulation (with spiders the size of your hand and spotted snakes on Magnetic Island! Eeeeeekkk - Ed) Claire pretended she was happy being at one with nature (really she was scared of everything that moved). One month later Ed flew home, unsurprisingly there were tears at the airport (mostly Claire's). Fast forward one year, multiple Easyjet flights and huge phone bills and Claire moved to Chippenham!

So after all that drama in the courtship, how to pop the question? "After surprise weekends away to some of the world’s most romantic cities (Venice, Paris) and no proposals Ed eventually got up the courage at home one Saturday morning in September. He woke me up with breakfast in bed, and on the tray there was a big box and inside that was a smaller box and so on until there was only a small wooden box left to open and inside this was THE ring. I was sooooo surprised — I said yes of course and the rest is history. Every time we went away for a weekend all the family waited in anticipation for a big announcement. Unbeknownst to anyone else Ed had asked my Dad for my hand in marriage several weeks previously and my Dad and Ed were the only two people who knew this was about to happen. There was great excitement when it was finally announced."

Claire looks every bit the gorgeous bride in her Caroline Castigliano gown.The crochet neck line is beautiful and the tulle skirt gives it that fairy tale look. A memory this little munchkin will have until it's her big day no doubt...

Claire and Ed had their ceremony in the gorgeous St Gobhan’s Parish Church in County Armagh.

Seriously dapper kids at this wedding!

After meeting all the way down unda Claire and Ed are officially Mr and Mrs! They called on the talents of Janine Walker to capture all the romantic moments of the day...

Larchfield Estate is a favourite in the OFD office, so no surprise that Claire and Ed liked it too... "As we both live in England we depended on my Mum and Dad to view various venues for us. I had seen Larchfield Estate online and asked them to view it, they loved it and when Ed and I were across on a visit, we went to see it and we fell in love with it instantly. The gardens were amazing and I wanted a room with a bit of character, and also something we could decorate to make it unique to us so we booked the barn there and then. No two wedding look the same at Larchfield everyone adds their own personal touch."

I loved Claire's bridesmaids style. The unusual pale yellow gowns that were Lazaro from La Boda are super feminine with ruffled sleeves and soft full length skirts they added chunky pearl necklaces for some edge.

The freedom of Larchfield Estate is what appealed to Claire and Ed and they were quick to make it their own...We wanted an elegant and romantic theme for our wedding but tried to add lots of fun and personal touches including touches from Australia where we met. The main barn was decorated in soft and neutral colours but had a real wow factor with romantic drapes, lighting and white flowers everywhere. We added lace table clothes to make the tables look vintage and pretty and also some yellow touches, in the marquee, to blend in with the colour of the bridesmaid dresses. This included yards of homemade bunting sewn by my wonderful mother, heart shaped chalkboards with love messages on them and other heart shaped decorations, which we placed around the marquee. The seating table plan was made up of white photo frames on a padded linen board.

Special touches that the lovebirds added in were the sweet table that Claire and her Mum had put together by collecting different shaped glass jars for the sweets and adding personalised sweet labels, of course the sweeties were a real hit with guests at the wedding with people filling yellow and white striped bags throughout the night. A must have for the ladies were flip flops for tired dancing feet and a special surprise of a DVD showing photos of both the Bride and Groom from baby through to the present day entertained the guests as the night came to an end.

What was your favourite moment of the day? "I have two favourite moments, the first was Ed making his speech, he was very nervous, but shouldn’t have been as he did a brilliant job, I was so proud of him. Also at the end of the night Ed said to me it was the best day of his life and he didn’t want it to end. Secondly was seeing everyone as I walked into Church, all Ed’s friends and family had made a huge effort to come across to Northern Ireland to be part of our special day and it was amazing to see everyone’s smiling faces."

Congratulations to Claire and Ed on their lovely wedding day in Larchfield Estate. A big Thank You to Janine Walker for sharing her work with One Fab Day. To see more of Janine's work pop on over to www.janinewalker.com

The Wedding Details