Roll up, roll up to see the fabulous and fantastical festival wedding of the delightful Des and Sandra.
This is a wedding that you can see took a lot of imagination and hard work - definitely not your standard church and hotel affair, but even just looking at Will O'Reilly's great photos I think you'll agree that it all added up a day neither the happy couple nor any of their guests could forget...
A Grand Entrance...
Des and Sandra were married at the Millhouse on the banks of the River Boyne in Slane, Co. Meath. It's a terrific Georgian mansion, located beside the old mill, just at the bridge in Slane. Really eclectic and one-of-a-kind venue, blending beautiful elegant architecture, the riverside and rolling fields, a cliff-face and the beautiful derelict Millhouse itself. The Millhouse is pretty non-traditional and very flexible about accomodating couples - according to Des "We needed a venue that would be flexible to our needs and the Millhouse certainly were... Janey who runs it lets you do whatever you need on the day, so we could go creative-mad" . Great to know for all those creative types among you...
Des and Sandra organised a humanist ceremony for their wedding day, having gotten officially married at the Registry office the week before. Humanist wedding ceremonies are a great option if you want to get married outside and like Des and Sandra, you can choose the format and write your own vows. They also chose a family member to run the ceremony, which is a lovely personal and intimate touch.
A Very Fun and Informal Affair....
Sandra's beautiful 1950s-inspired dress comes from Candy Anthony in London. Loving the short veil too - so fun and uber-retro!
Des and Sandra wanted a really relaxed and informal wedding, so they chose to have a barbeque instead of a traditional sit-down meal, so guests just chilled out outside the Millhouse on the banks of the river, in what looks like absolutely glorious sunshine.
This wedding has many outstanding creative touches but having a Spiegel Tent has to be top of pile - I'm sure you recognise it (or similar) from the Jazz Festival in the IFSC, Comedy Carnival in the Iveagh Gardens or even Glastonbury. Festival fans Des and Sandra ordered the second largest tent available from Magic Mirrors in Belgium (and it travelled on to the Reading Festival the following week). Apparently this was the first time it had been used as a wedding venue but the owners loved the idea - so you know where to go now, if this tickles your fancy...
Mirror, Mirror On The Wall, Whose Is The Coolest Wedding Of Them All?
The festival fun didn't stop with the Spiegel tent - there was an ice-cream van after the meal instead of cake, and another great festival-inspired touch were the lanyards (seen above around Sandra's neck) - as they were having lots of different styles of music at different times, they gave a rundown of what was happening throughout the day. Bar vouchers were also attached, and the neckribbon had Des & Sandra's names and the wedding date.
As Des said "People still tell us that they kept the lanyard and have it attached to something in their house and it reminds them of our day." What a cool memento instead of a traditional wedding favour!
I love Des' description: "Looking back, at the end of the day itself I switched of the rigs and generators and was the last one out of the Spiegel tent in order to lock it up, and I just remember looking back over it all thinking that this is definitely something we will remember for the rest of our lives" Aw! It's definitely a wedding that I will remember
Any Advice for Other Brides & Grooms?
We'll leave you with some words of wisdom from a truly inspirational pair:
Hear, hear, Des! The OFD girls couldn't agree more!
Big thanks to the super Will O'Reilly for allowing us to showcase his work. Will does lovely elegant wedding photography utilising natural light and shade and what I particularly liked about Des and Sandra's pictures is the fact he captures them so well when they're totally unaware. Will also offers a cd-only package which was what Sandra and Des got, as they wanted the freedom to use the photos as they wished (I'm sure whatever they've done is super-original).
And to Des and Sandra, thank you so much for giving us an insight into the hard work and creativity that went into your wedding, and Congratulations!
