Autumn holds all kinds of magic, and for today's real wedding couple Shianne & Mark, it held the promise of all that was to come as they celebrated their marriage in their home city of Dublin, Ireland. The pair, who grew up together, meeting when they were just teens, found each other through friends. Marrying in the surrounds of the impressive Dublin City Hall, Shianne & Mark were surrounded by 85 of their loved ones who watched the pair say 'I do' and later, who helped them celebrate at their The Mayson Hotel wedding reception. Packed with chic details and a palette of beautiful, soft tones of dusky rose paired with white & cream, this was an elegant city wedding day that was carefully crafted by the couple - from the flowers to the décor, and even their own DIY wedding stationery. We couldn’t be more thrilled to share their October celebration, with their beautiful images captured by Olga Hogan Photography.
The pair who are both originally from Dublin, but now live in Canada, have a classic childhood sweethearts love story! The bride tells us more, "We were together from a very young age. Mark was 16, Shianne was 15. We were introduced by Shianne’s eventual maid of honour, Amy. First dates led to a very quick romance, and we have been together ever since – 13 years in October 2023, from beginnings in Dublin to moving abroad to pursue our careers in Toronto, Canada in June 2019."
The groom popped the question on a romantic hike in Ontario. Shianne shares their story. "Originally we had planned a trip to Tulum in August 2020, where Mark was planning to propose – however we booked our flights on March 2nd 2020 – not great timing at all. We planned a trip up to an area of Ontario called Bruce Peninsula, a coastal area around a glacial lake. After a long hike up the top of Lion’s Head Lookout , Mark came prepared with a blanket and a ring and popped the question there as the sun set."
The couple's ceremony took place at Dublin City Hall where Shianne walked up the aisle to meet her beloved alongside her mum & dad.
"The ceremony itself was the top priority for us over all else – we wanted to ensure it was personal and included as much of our family as possible. Shona Weymes was an amazing humanist celebrant, she made the marriage ceremony really personal and special – it felt like she had known us from the start." the bride reminisces.
"Music was also very important to our day – we were so glad to have Jenny Dowdall make our ceremony and reception in City Hall special with her amazing repertoire – guests were gushing about her."
We love how the pair added a Wine Box Ritual into their ceremony. This ritual finds the couple sealing a special bottle of wine alongside love letters to each other in a box during their wedding ceremony. Curious to find out more? Check out our dedicated feature here!
As most of our real wedding couples planning from abroad will tell you, planning a wedding when 3,166 miles from home is no easy feat! The couple fill us on on their wedding planning journey. "Having to scout and book the venues virtually from Canada was a challenge, and we went through a few different options before we landed on a Dublin City wedding that helped us focus what ‘the one’ meant to us. Having a city wedding with two separate venues, we wanted to play into the opportunity to provide a contrast to the day and bring our guests through several different vibes and aesthetics. As soon as we considered City Hall, we loved its grandeur and historic setting. It was hugely sentimental to get married in City Hall, and the room itself is the star – the rotunda needs no dressing and has a wow factor to it on it’s own."
The bride adds, "The Mayson has an amazing cocktail lounge vibe and mid-century modern aesthetic – it was an amazing contrast to Dublin City hall and felt modern and young. The Timberyard event space didn’t need much – up lights for atmosphere and table dressings but it feels unique and stylised, intimate and warm. The Mayson also had a lovely old style pub the bottle boy which guests had a second drinks reception in on arrival with bags of Tayto on the table laid out for them, which the Canadians in attendance loved for its authentic Irish charm."
Shianne found her dreamy Savannah Miller wedding dress at The Suite in Dublin. She paired it with a soft tulle pearl embellished veil which she also found at The Suite, white heels from ASOS and pearl earrings from Mejuri.
Mark looked equally dapper in a slick suit by Skopes and black loafers from ALDO. His wedding day look was completed with a tie and pocket square was John Henric, shirt by Brooks Brothers, tie clip from The Tie Bar and vintage cufflinks found on Etsy.
The bride opted for an all-white bridal bouquet with springs of baby’s breath designed by Floral Earth which was a nod to her own mums baby’s breath bouquet, and also choose baby’s breath for her bridesmaids bouquets.
"The florals were an important part of the day as we used them to tie the two venues together and create some cohesion. We used more of the baby’s breath in blush and warm tones to complement my bridesmaid dresses as the sculptural elements (clouds) that lined the aisle and dressed the celebrant’s table. They were later moved to the Mayson. We used those same baby’s breath clouds from the ceremony dotted around in The Timberyard space, on the corners of the bar and by the DJ etc. with a few sprigs in our centerpieces to tie it all together."
The bridesmaids chic dusty rose dresses where sourced from Ghost which the bride paired with a neutral block heel.
Once they had their venues locked down, the couple then had to decide on a look and feel for their celebration, ultimately deciding on "elegant chic city wedding that was timeless and classic but also was filled with Joy, Love and Laughter and not too stuffy or traditional!"
The bride adds, "The vibe was relaxed and very easy going. Because we live abroad and hadn’t seen many guests in some time due to being away, the wedding also felt like an amazing homecoming and catch up with our friends and family. Since we’ve been together so long and since so young, there was an incredible energy in the room from our friends and family who grew up alongside us or watched us grow up together."
"For the look, we wanted to stick to something that reflected our own personal style and not follow trends or what’s expected of weddings too much, in our suit and dress, the flower arrangements and the stationary. We would say that we tried to keep it simple and impactful, and making the most of our venues by complimenting without overdressing their individual aesthetics."
When asked was important to them about your wedding - what were their priorities from the very beginning, the couple say, "Sticking to our guns of what we liked and thought fit our vision and personalities, and not getting wrapped up in expectations of weddings – if we felt something didn’t hold value for us and impact the day in a meaningful way, we didn’t feel the pressure to include it. We were really adamant on finding unique venues that had character and personality, that we would want to eat or drink or hang out in them on a normal day. They needed to look beautiful as they were without too much décor, we wanted it to look effortless and enhance the spaces with the small décor touches we did choose to include."
From the welcome sign and reception seating chart to to the name cards and table numbers, all stationery was designed by Shianne & Mark. How impressive!
The reception at The Mayson was filled to the brim with lots of extra touches added by the couple including vases of blooms, candles, stationery designed by the pair, a guestbook, neon signage, uplights and a disco ball! The bride tells us, "The Mayson had a lot of beautiful greenery and tropical plants that completed the rich wood tones and mid-century modern décor, we played into this with our own florals and wanted to complement what was already in the room so we choose to use Anthurium in a mix of blushes and browns for our center pieces, they worked so well with tropical greenery and the tones were so spot on with the wood in the room, the velour bar, the up lights etc. We had a less was more approach with those arrangements on the tables, which I loved, it felt unique and modern.
The bride adds, "Our guestbook was placed in the walkway between the restrooms and function room, which our friends and family filled up with some great messages. We would highly recommend keeping the tradition of using one!"
When asked what made the day really special and personal to them, the bride says, "Being in one room with all your friends and family, the people you love in one room is rare enough when you all live close by but coming home from Canada for the wedding made the day so special and such an amazing occasion by being able to celebrate with everyone. The day felt like a culmination of such a long time and so much planning, thinking, daydreaming about getting married – the trip from City Hall to The Mayson alone was a great time to be alone catch up after the ceremony and soak it all in."
Shianne adds, "Our DJ Jim was an vinyl DJ which was something that felt very personal and special to us, Mark is in the music industry and we play a lot of vinyl at home and we worked with Jim to build out a playlist for our party of all our favourite stuff that was meaningful to us and we knew would get our friends and family up on the dance floor. It was a really special and unique touch the reflected us as a couple, suited our venue to a T and was a really nice surprise for our guests on the day."
It was, of course, the people that made it the best day for these two. "Everyone did such an amazing job with speeches, letters, scrapbooks, mementos and readings - our community of family and friends around us made the day so special."
We're obsessed with the couples on-trend, yet timeless Lambeth wedding cake by Mimi’s Bakes!
Shainne can’t speak highly enough of the couple’s chosen photographer Olga Hogan. "Our Photographer Olga was incredible, aside from meeting with us and discussing exactly what we wanted and generally just being a lovely person she really captured the magic of the day – it’s that thing you can’t put into words or describe but you can feel it and remember it from a beautiful photo. We were blown away by our pictures, they exceeded all of our expectations and we feel so lucky to have them to look back on forever."
When it comes to advice for other bride and grooms planning their day, the couple have this to say. "Stay true to yourself and remember its your day to celebrate! You set the tone for the day - if you love your wedding day and are happy with what you’ve chosen to build out the event, your family and guests will pick up on that and love it too. Don’t be afraid to veer off from what’s ‘the done thing’ or traditionally expected at a wedding – pick and choose what makes sense for you and your spouse."
Congratulations Shianne & Mark! Thank you for sharing your beautiful Dublin City wedding celebration day with us. Thank you also to Olga Hogan Photography for sharing today’s stunning imagery!
