If you've ever wondered how much work goes into having a wedding at home, today's real wedding is the perfect case study. Gráinne and Michael married at the bride's family farmhouse in Kilkenny, converting the barn into a beautiful ceremony space, and hiring a Magnakata tipi to give their barbecue reception a fun, festival feel. From homegrown flowers and hand-sewn bunting, to salvaged signage and hay bale seating, this pair - along with their friends and families - flung themselves into both the logistics and creative aspects of a wedding at home. And as you can see from their photos by Siobhan Byrne Photography, all their hard work paid off - and then some!

Gráinne and Michael tell us their story is one of those classic office romances. “After living in the Far East, I got a job in Glasgow to be a little bit closer to home,” explains Gráinne, “Michael was working at the same company and we quickly bonded over cups of tea in the staff kitchen. Then we ran a half marathon together and shortly after went on our first date. This eventually led to us moving in together in Glasgow before moving back to Dublin in 2016.”

Gráinne wore these pretty pumps for the ceremony before switching to some white Birkenstocks (her fave footwear) for the rest of the day. "I wore pearl earrings given to me by my best friend on her wedding day (I was her bridesmaid). She couldn’t attend the wedding unfortunately so it was a little reminder of her," the bride tells us.

With so much outdoor space to avail off, the couple thankfully had a scorcher of a wedding day!

The couple booked a holiday to Portugal and Michael says he decided in advance that this was the time to propose. But it didn’t quite go to plan, “He hid the ring in a pair of socks which were buried at the bottom of a rucksack which he never let out of his sight. The rucksack went everywhere with us but the ring never made it out,” says Gráinne, “After we returned home we went for a walk on Portmarnock beach where Michael proposed.”

The couple had a good idea of how they wanted their day to look and feel, “Relaxed and non-traditional with a slight festival vibe (we even had people camping in the garden). Everyone pitched in to make the day come together and being in the middle of a heatwave obviously helped!”

The bride and groom were eager for their day to be unique to them, “Although there are some amazing places out there, we always wanted something a bit different than a big white wedding and were just really lucky to have somewhere we could do that. Our main priority was having everyone we liked in the one place with good food and good music.”

These stunning flowers have a lot of love behind them, “Gráinne’s mother Maureen and godmother Brenda grew all the flowers for the bouquets, barn and tables as well as all the plant pots. They were absolutely stunning and really made the venue look so much better. We actually had so much sweet pea growing early in June that my mother was giving it away to anyone she met! Lamber de Bie in Kilkenny made the buttonholes and the headpiece. We had no colour scheme other than what was in season, but they did a beautiful job and were so lovely to work with.”

Gráinne found her beautiful vintage tambour lace dress at Dirty Fabulous in Dublin, “I went in with only one criteria, that I wanted a long dress, and came out an hour later having picked this short one! I loved the texture of the lace and the fact that being vintage it is one of a kind. Michael’s kilt is a hire from Slanj in Glasgow.”

Siobhan Byrne documented the couple and their day, from the first look ahead of their ceremony, “She was just brilliant. She really captured the day, the emotions and just made everything look incredible,” says Gráinne. “She was also a lovely, calm presence on the day which meant she got some great shots of the two of us despite us not being very natural in front of the camera.”

The choice of venue was a no-brainer for the bride, "Gráinne has really great memories of spending time on the farm growing up and since we got together we’ve spent a lot of time down there. We each came up with the idea of having it in the barn independently and then when we raised the idea with Gráinne’s parents they had had the same idea,” says Michael, “It was a lot of work to get from a barn full of junk to a ceremony venue but definitely worth it in to share the history of the place with all our guests.”

There is some seriously cool guest style inspo dotted throughout this wedding!

Having the wedding at home helped the couple with their sustainable approach to wedding planning, “We didn’t want to buy things that we would have to throw away after so all of the decoration, signs, old bikes we found by raiding the sheds. The signpost with the names of the countries all the guests travelled from was made from various pieces of wood lying around and old tins of paint. The hay bales for seats will be used for feed this winter.”

A bath full of booze is always a welcome sight - am I right?

With just a bridesmaid and a best man in their wedding party, kitting them out was a laid-back endeavour, “Lauren, the bridesmaid picked out her dress in Canada. We didn’t have any colour scheme, she just picked one she liked but by chance her green dress matched the best man’s kilt.”

Gráinne and Micheal walked down the aisle together to ‘If I Should Fall Behind’ by Bruce Springsteen.

The couple made sure their ceremony was personal, “Gráinnes mother’s friend did then ceremony and really set the fun and relaxed tone for the day.”

The couple pass on the best best piece of advice they received ahead of their wedding, “To enjoy the planning and the preparation because the day itself goes so fast. Some of our best memories are of painting barn doors with Michael’s mother and aunt or weekends working on the farmhouse, with mandatory breaks at 11am for coffee and 4pm for ice cream wafers.” Says Gráinne, “Also, everyone loves an ice cream van!” True that!

I'm not quite sure what's happening here, but I like it!

As is always recommended with a wedding at home, the couple had some help running the show on the day, “Hannah-Marie Ryan at Forevermore Events was our coordinator on the day. She looked after all the background details and made sure everything was running smoothly so that we could all relax and enjoy it.”

The couple were blown away by the support of their guests, “It’s impossible to name all the relatives and friends who helped out to make the day special! In particular, Michaels mother who made 50 meters of bunting for the tipi.”

The couple had a few last minute details to enhance the space, “Gráinne made the place names and for the table plan we found an old mirror in the stable that we wrote on with white marker the night before the wedding!”

To give them the festival vibe they were after the couple had a teepee marquee and barbecue catering, “The teepee was from Magnakata. We found them very accommodating, we got to keep the teepee for an extra few days so we decided to have a barbecue the next day. Catering was a hog roast from the Hogfather,” says Gráinne, “We were delighted we chose them as there were so many compliments on the food and they were very professional to deal with. They also did a great job of keeping straight faces when they visited the venue a couple of months before and saw nothing but a building site!”

Gráinne’s mother baked the pretty wedding cake, “Her cousin and aunt decorated it with teepees and flowers.” Michael tells us.

How cool is this eclectic international signage!

The couple jetted off to Sri Lanka for their honeymoon, “We would definitely recommend it for a bit of everything - stunning beaches, safaris, mountains, temples and really friendly people.”

The couple have high praise for their wedding band, Poplife, “They had the dancefloor filled all night and they provided a DJ for after who kept the party going. At one point there was a power cut so all the lights and sound went out and all you could hear from the teepee was the chorus of Mr Brightside belting out with the band still playing (like true professionals)! It was one of the most memorable moments of the night. One of the neighbours stepped in to help my dad and the power was back on in a few minutes. The hazards and thrills of having a wedding at home!”

The couple popped off to steal some golden hour shots before the evening's festivities.

Such a unique, and beautiful wedding day - thanks so much to Gráinne and Michael for sharing the story behind your celebration with us, and of course to Siobhan Byrne Photography for capturing all the details.