From the start today's real wedding couple Leona and Andrew brought their unique style into elements of their wedding day at Borris House. Beautiful bride Leona, wore an elegant vintage gown and mixed it up with a black sash and bow detail, while groom Andrew brought his band mates into play at the reception.

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Something we absolutely love to see is when brides and grooms add a big stamp of personality to their wedding day. From the start, today's real wedding couple, Leona and Andrew brought their unique style into elements of their wedding day at Borris House. Beautiful bride Leona, wore an elegant vintage gown and mixed it up with a black sash and bow detail, while groom Andrew brought his band mates into play at the reception. You're in for a treat when it comes to the decor as the couple transformed their reception space with crafty touches and beautiful blooms. Paula Gillespie worked her magic and captured all the best bits to share with us today!

Leona and Andrew met more than ten years ago in Dublin. They had mutual friends who were dating at the time and conspired to bring them together! Of course, it worked and those two friends were probably guests of honour at the wedding.

Andrew proposed to Leona on New Year's Eve at her parent's home in Aberglaslyn in Snowdonia National Park, North Wales. That's a mouthful to say, but it sounds very cosy...I asked for Leona’s dad's permission over a game of Wii Bowling and an ale earlier that evening, we get on very well and I think that more than anything else he was relieved that I was finally going to give everyone a day out! At midnight Leona and I walked down to a nice spot in front of the house where the River Glaslyn meets one of its tributaries and I got down on one knee and asked her to marry me. A big yes from Leona, and now the two have a wonderful memory together of her hometown.

We love Leona's stunning vintage wedding dress. The back detail with added bow is so unique and brings her personality to her look. The beautiful gown is completed with a black sash and incredible train plus gold shoes that were a bargain - €4 from the Age Action Charity Shop in Dublin!

When it came to planning their big day, Andrew and Leona wanted to have a laid back, relaxed celebration for their guests, they also wanted their personalities and design style to shine through. When they found Borris House, they were smitten with the olde world charm and history as well as the reception room that could be a blank canvas for their celebration... The grounds were very picturesque with a lovely view of Mount Leinster. The house and it's rooms had a slightly faded grandeur that oozed character, history and charm. In addition to this, the real selling point was that the reception room was a perfect blank canvas with no existing affectations or design tropes. Rough, unfinished stone walls, wooden floors, a high ceiling with heavy timber beams, lovely tall windows and a large fireplace. The rest was up to us!

The couple used the Borris House Chapel for their humanist ceremony and it was the perfect space for them to add a few touches like the flower decor on the pews.

As a surprise to their guests, Leona and Andrew organised the Dublin Welsh Male Voice Choir to accompany the ceremony! Andrew (whose in a band - lucky Leona) asked his band mates to play at the reception, adding another special touch to the day.

Woohoo, it's official!

Wedding guests enjoyed a drinks reception in the beautiful gardens of Borris House. Leona and Andrew imported Welsh ales from Leona's home town and brought out some O'Hara's to keep it company!

When it came to planning the food this was Leona's department. Bride Leona is a Ballymaloe trained chef! Who now works as a food stylist and menu consultant, so making the food shine on the day was high priority! The couple worked with Eunice Power (a One Fab Day friend and supplier!)to create a menu that would impress their guests, who Andrew told us had very high expectations! The pressure was on, but from the looks of those delicious scones their was nothing to worry about!

The grounds of Borris House were the perfect location for Leona and Andrew to take some romantic photographs.

We love this one - we're not 100% sure whats going on, but we think we know who wears the trousers in this relationship...

The sun shone for the couple and their guests all afternoon and when it was time to have dinner the guests were in for a treat with the decor of the reception room.

We've seen this one before! It's so nice to see the finger print tree guest book incorporated into so many different weddings. You can download your own one here!

When it came to the decor, Leona and Andrew wanted to incorporate old and new, with design features they liked. For starters we love the addition of craft paper name tags with the wedding photographs of their parents and grandparents.

The couple asked a friend to design the wedding stationery which was craft paper chic. Something extra they added, that was new to us (and a great idea) was to send a recipe card with their RSVPs when they sent out their wedding invitations. What came back from their guests was an array a recipes that they could start making as newlyweds!

The reception room was a key element when the couple booked Borris House as you can see you can really put your own stamp on it. When it came to the table decor, flowers were a huge element. Leona's very talented mother put together all the flowers and the pink roses and babys breathe are a beautiful addition to the tables. Leona's mum even put together the bride's bouquet, which was a replica of her grandmother's bouquet!

Leona's sister worked her magic on the DIY front, putting together the awesome light-up “A&L” marquee letters and the hand-painted table plan. I really hope Leona and Andrew find a place for the light up marquee letters in their house!

Leona and Andrew had guests traveling to Ireland for the week of the wedding, so they recommend trying to finish your to-do lists before anyone arrives so they can spend time with your guests. This is something to keep in mind if a lot of your guests aren't used to the area, you'll want to have time to show them around!

Congratulations, Leona and Andrew on your beautiful wedding day! A big thank you goes to Paula Gillespie for sharing her work with us at One Fab Day! To see more of Paula's work pop over to www.paulagillespie.com

The Wedding Details