Wild flowers, reusable décor, handmade bunting & one smitten couple with a great story...

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We all know how important being kind to the planet is, recycling where we can and reusing as much as possible. It's important to apply this day to day, but what about on your wedding day? For their wedding Sorcha and Sean pulled out all the stops to be as environmentally friendly as possible and created a gorgeous and relaxed wedding day that reflected their sustainable ethos but was still a party with a capital P. A lucky last minute decision brings us these lovely images of this eco friendly wedding to share as Sorcha and Sean asked a friend that was already on the guestlist, Darren Forde just a few weeks before the wedding and he said yes, which means we can share a really inspiring celebration...

Sean and Sorcha's Inish Beg Wedding by Darren Forde Wedding Photography | onefabday.com

Sorcha and Sean are two adventurous and original spirits, their approach to the wedding gave us a clue, but we had no idea how cool-as-a-cucumber different these two were until we heard where they met. Both from the same parish in Cork, Sorcha and Sean met in not-usually-associated-with-romance South Korea! As you do. Sean had been in South Korea for almost 4 years (!) when Sorcha arrived to do some Marine Science Research at a university. Sorcha had heard there was a fellow Corkonian in the area and began her search in the local Irish pub (where else would you start?), she explained..."I had heard there was a guy from Blackrock in Cork (where I’m from) somewhere in the city and we eventually met in the Irish Bar, which is unsurprising I guess! Being from the same parish I did remember the name vaguely, however he recalls that I slagged him for his white socks as a teenager, but I am denying all memory of this. What first caught my eye was that Sean had a pile of books in front of him at the bar and I had run out of reading material, so convinced him to lend them to me. We got talking but it was not until our next meeting that something happened. We were inseparable from then on."

The weekend after meeting Sean, Sorcha's twin sister organised a 30th birthday party for her in Cork at Inish Beg Estate, of course there was much banter and hilarity over Sorcha's Cork/Korea romance, but little did they know then they'd all be back at Inish Beg 8 years later to celebrate Sean and Sorcha's wedding.

Just a couple of years later, the couple moved back to Ireland in 2008 with their two adorable sons, Fiachra and Culainn. Enjoying family life, it was a while later (last year in fact) when Sorcha and Sean took a camping holiday to France that Sean proposed over a glass of wine in their tent as the little boys slept. Like all the best proposals, utterly simple, completely intimate, totally adorable.

Having created a strong and loving family unit, getting the piece of paper to make it all "legal" wasn't top of the list for Sorcha and Sean, so they took their time and when it eventually came down to planning a celebration, they wanted a simple and natural event, with the emphasis on everyone having a good time. They didn't exactly want to design an eco friendly wedding per se, but they were conscious of the decisions they made in the planning. For their venue they wanted to make sure it was accessible to their guests and accommodating to their less-than-traditional approach to the day, and of course, having all their personal history attached, Inish Beg on the island in West Cork ticked all the boxes.

Sorcha explained why they fell for the island as a venue, and how the event took shape on the day..."Inish Beg was perfect as the owners are very accommodating and allow you to use the estate as a blank canvas. We had the humanist ceremony outside in the forest and it was really magical and such a natural setting that set the tone for the rest of the day. Our guests then walked through the beautiful estate to the walled garden for drinks and then on to the boathouse for the meal. We loved that a lot of our guests could stay on the estate (46 people) so the party vibe continued through breakfast the next day and swims in the pool and walks in the lovely gardens."

Sorcha's beautiful draped dress suits her perfectly. After looking for a traditional dress for a while, Sorcha found the one in Amity of Cork "I wanted something light and flowing that could be worn again (recycling is a bit of a theme for me!). When I tried on this dress I knew it was the one, I felt so comfortable, the colour really suited me and I loved the option of changing the top (which I did for the evening’s festivities)"

As Inish Beg is an organic estate surrounded by lots of gorgeous natural beauty Sorcha and Sean got inspired to have as much natural aspects to their wedding as possible. The flowers were wild flowers from the estate put together by Sean's mum, the jam jars and painted wine bottles which acted as table décor were all recycled from the homes of friends and family and then there was all of the little DIY elements...

DIY was a big theme at the event, echoing Sorcha's avowed "recycling" bent, and the fact that it was a way to bring family and friends into the proceedings not just as guests, but to feel truly "part" of the wedding. The invitations and place names were printed on recycled paper and the favours were wild flower seeds (just one of the many ideas we have about growing your own wedding favours). The bunting was made by Sorcha and her sister-in-law with the material coming from old curtains and tablecloths Sorcha and Sean found in the house they had just moved into. The cake table was made up of delicious treats baked by friends and family and the colourful table plan had each table as a different flower pot with names written on lollipop sticks. After the wedding friends and family took home jam jars, plants and bits of bunting and so everyone got a little bit of décor for their own home.

Pretty potted colourful table plan | onefabday.com

Another really unique aspect of the day was that all of speeches were done by the girls of the family, with Sorcha's twin sister, both Sorcha and Sean's mothers and Sorcha herself all speaking. A decision everyone was delighted with in the end "My sister did a poem which had everyone in stitches and she gave a really heartfelt speech as she knows us so well. Both mothers did brilliantly and had everyone close to tears, while I surprised myself by not crying! It actually made for a lovely ambiance and made me proud to see the strong women in my life speak so eloquently."

I really love this wedding and how Sorcha and Sean did exactly as they liked in such a casual loving way. Naturally they have some excellent advice if you're in the midst of manic wedding planning. Firstly having a photographer is a must, and as they made a last minute decision, this is a really interesting piece of advice"We had decided not to really have a wedding photographer, as neither of us is very into posing for photos and we wanted to spend as much time as possible with our guests. However about 6 weeks before the wedding we decided to ask someone to take a few formal photos (under gentle pressure from the mothers) for the families albums, and this was probably one of the best decisions we made! I remembered my good friend Carol-Ann’s husband Darren was a photographer and since he was coming anyway I decided to ask him to take a couple of photos of the families and then enjoy his day. When he came back with the album I actually could not believe how well he captured the mood and happiness of the day and how close I had come to not having this amazing record of our wedding." And secondly enjoy yourselves! "Decide what type of day you want together before starting the planning. We really knew we wanted a relaxed day in a natural setting with the least amount of formality possible and I think we achieved this. Also stop during the festivities and take a look around, surrounding you on that day are all the amazing people in your life and its breathtaking!"

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For their honeymoon Sorcha, Sean and their two kids spent 5 nights in Marrakesh followed by a camping trip in France - almost a year to the day of Sean's camping proposal!

Congratulations you two, we hope you and your family have a lifetime of happiness!

A huge thank you also goes to Darren Forde, if you'd like to see more of Darren's work head on over to www.darrenforde.ie

And if you're inspired to be a bit greener and adopt Sorcha and Sean's approach then have a look at our 9 Ways to an Eco friendly Wedding - you might find some ideas to use.

The Wedding Details