Today’s real wedding stars American bride Janaya and her Irish groom Philip. The pair live in London, but chose to marry in Ireland so that the groom’s granny could celebrate with them. This inclusive ethos filtered through to the rest of their elegant, rustic, pre-pandemic wedding at Luttrellstown Castle. From their choice of venue, to the layout of the tables, detail-oriented bride Janaya wanted to make sure every last guest was an important part of the day. Peter Rowen Photography captured all the gorgeous style and refined finishing touches, so let's dive in...
Janaya tells us she had dropped a hint or two about wanting to get married, but didn’t think much would come of it. But that was before Philip took her to Paris for a weekend in the spring, "I had never been before but always wanted to go. He told me we were going to do a photo shoot because we didn’t have many good photos of us. I remember getting up at about 5am that Saturday, and rolling over and asking him if I we could just skip taking the photos and he told me no and I got upset with him because I not a morning person at all. He got me coffee and I forgave him for getting up at early.”
Janaya and Philip met the photographer and wandered the city taking photos at all the memorable spots. “Then Philip got on one knee in front of Eiffel Tower. I was so surprised that I slapped him on the shoulder and told him to get up,” recalls Janaya. “He opened the ring box and it was everything I wanted. Later he told me that he had bought the diamond from Israel and had the ring made for me by a friend of ours who is a jeweller in Dublin. When he proposed, I was so surprised and excited that I didn't wait for him to put the ring on my finger, I just grabbed it straight from the box! We have photos of the whole thing! They're very funny!”
From the start, Philip was eager for himself and Janaya to get married in a church in Dublin, "We both wanted to get married in a church because faith and tradition are important to us - and Philip's uncle is the priest who married us. Philip was insistent on having the wedding in Dublin because his grandmother is 90 years old and he is the first grandchild to get married,” explains Janaya. “As for me, I needed to have a space where everyone feels like they are a part of our family, meaning I wanted everyone to be close.”
The bride and groom tell us their wedding was a mix of Irish, American and English, “Philip and I have lived all over the world and we know people from so many different places. Everything and everyone came together on that day. It was amazing.”
Janaya had inclusion in mind throughout the planning, "I did not want to have people divided, so in the table arrangements, we tried to have as many people at the top table as possible. I had been to a wedding before where my date was at the top table because he was in the wedding and I wasn't and this made me feel isolated. I didn't want anyone to feel like that. When planning the wedding, I thought of others because I never really thought about it as just my day. I wanted everyone to feel like they were a part of it. The details mattered to me, especially the small ones.”
The bridesmaids looked stunning in fresh blue off-the-shoulder gowns, and there elegant rustic bouquets, dripping with greenery and dotted with white blooms are beautiful.
For Janaya, the highlight of the day was having so many friends and family travel from the US to Dublin to celebrate, “Most of them had never been to Ireland before and some of them had never been to Europe. So, that was amazing. My best friend, who was also my maid of honour, made me an alternative dress that was shorter and I could wear for the dances. She is a wonderful and a very talented fashion designer. It was something that is still very close to my heart that she took the time to make me something. Not only that but her whole family travelled over to Dublin to help with my wedding needs. They didn't have to do this and I was so honoured.”
How gorgeous are these two! Janaya wore a gorgeous two-piece wedding dress, the shape of her bodice is so pretty paired with her full skirt, and I am very much enjoying her baby's breath headband!
The couple looked exclusively at castles and manor houses for their venue search, "I didn't want a hotel where there would be other people wandering around. So, it was very important to me to rent a place where it would be just our family and friends,” explains the bride. “We had a bunch of castles booked in to go and see. Luttrellstown was the first place we saw and the moment we saw it we knew it was the one. We didn't even bother going to see the others. I am someone who is into small details, meaning everything has been thought out. Everything had to be elegantly detailed and perfect. But I also wanted a natural simplicity to the wedding. It was a hard balance to achieve but I think we pulled it off.”
Janaya explains how she designed most of the wedding herself, "I wanted to give it a rustic feel. So, we had lots of greenery, eucalyptus etc. Philip found an amazing wedding band (the Connor McKeon Band) who appear on Irish television and play swing music. We gave them a list of songs. It was such a happy day, everyone was having fun. It was amazing to have a castle all to ourselves.”
The refined mix of rustic greenery and white florals filtered through to the reception, the tall tapered really amp up the elegance.
This pair say their best wedding planning advice is to relax and be there for each other, and we are here for their wisdom! “Try not to fight over the little things even if they seem big at the time. Things will go wrong and you can’t control everything, so you have to be able to deal with that. Be there for your soon-to-be wife. If she’s talking about flowers and colours just give her an ear even if you're not that into it and do the same for your future husband. It's so stressful to create a perfect wedding but it will be best day of your life. Just remember to breathe and remind yourself of the reason why you’re going though the stress in the first place.”
Clearly Janaya and Philips efforts paid off, these guests look like they're having some serious craic!
The newlyweds jetted off to Croatia on honeymoon, a place they had both been to separately and loved, “We had both taken a lot of time off work to plan and execute our wedding so we didn't want to travel too far. We got a chartered boat to sail around the islands. We could explore the islands and stop off shore to dive in the sea. We saw the famous Blue Caves, which were incredible. Philip hired a small motorboat as well, so we could take a private tour around one of the islands, with a bottle of wine and a picnic. We were diving off the boat and we thought we saw shark fins. We freaked out but when we got back to the harbour the guy who rented us the boat laughed and told us they were dolphins. We wanted to spend some time in a city with nice tourist sites and some time in a small, quiet getaway location so we divided our trip between Split and the small island of Brač.”
Thanks so much to Janaya and Philip for letting us in on your day, and to Peter Rowen Photography for documenting it so beautifully - visit the gallery below to see even more!
