Today's real wedding is special for lots of reasons, it's stylish, romantic, and crammed with beautiful ideas. US couple Liz and Nick put so much care and love into their big day, which required travelling 3,000 miles with 75 of their closest friends and family members! Planned in just eight months, with a stellar team of local suppliers, a sustainable, low-waste ethos, and lots of effortlessly elegant and modern visual details, their big day is a real feast for the eyes. Paula Gillespie Photography was kind enough to share the imagery from the day, so let's dive in!

Liz and Nick tell us that they met on dating app, Hinge, while living in New York. "It was absolute love at first sight," Liz says, "we both deleted the app the night we met each other. Our first date was at a tiny bar in Soho called The Room. After a couple of drinks, we walked to Washington Square Park and had our first kiss underneath the famous arch. I will never forget saying goodbye to Nick at the subway station. Neither of us wanted to leave! We said goodbye about 20 times before we finally separated. Our second date lasted 12 hours. That’s when I knew we were going to be together forever."

This pair had a thoroughly modern engagement - they mutually decided to get engaged when the time was right and puchased a ring together - but also had a gorgeous proposal moment. "On a lovely fall day in November, Nick re-created our marathon second date through Manhattan," Liz remembers. "We walked down the Highline park together, and then he brought me to a secret garden in the West Village. Tucked away in a tiny, quiet corner of the garden on a bench, he asked me to marry him, and of course, crying like a baby, I said yes. It was personal, intimate, and perfectly us."

Liz and Nick weren't initially sure that they wanted a wedding, but once they hit upon the right idea, everything fell into place. "We waffled for a long time about even having a wedding, but we didn’t want to pass up the unique opportunity to gather all our friends and family together in one place. Keeping the wedding intimate was a huge priority, as was celebrating over multiple days, so that we could have quality time with each guest."

The couple wrote personal notes to each and every one of their wedding guests, which served as a super sweet, unifying moment during the ceremony. "We asked people to take their note as they walked into our ceremony space and found their seats," Liz says, "and then had our officiant take a moment during the ceremony to let everyone open and read their notes. It was an incredibly emotional moment, with lots of tears. It was absolutely unreal to feel that amount of love and gratitude radiating throughout the whole space."

The couple had a strong aesthetic vision for their day, "From a look and feel perspective, we were inspired by Scandinavian summertime and also by my grandmother’s garden," Liz says. "She passed away earlier this year, but she kept a gorgeous English-inspired garden where I loved to play as a childhood. Our earthy, summery colour palette (and of course, the florals) came from my memories of her home and her yard. It was a wonderful way to keep her spirit alive."

Creating a wedding that aligned with their feminist values was another big priority, Liz explains. "Instead of having my Dad 'give me away' to Nick, Nick’s parents walked him down the aisle together, as did mine. We didn’t have traditional, gendered bridal parties. My bachelorette party had boys in attendance. We made sure our ceremony only contained gender-neutral language (for example, 'you may seal your vows with a kiss' rather than 'you may now kiss the bride'), we slept in the same room the night before the wedding and woke up together, and we didn’t change our names. There were lots of little things that added up to a wedding that felt equal and balanced to us."

This celebration was a multi-day affair, comprising a giant pub crawl when everyone arrived in Dublin, a welcome party at Killashee the night before the wedding, and, after the big day, a family vacation around the West of Ireland, including a stop off at the village where Liz's great-grandmother grew up.

For this pair, it was important that their day be as eco-friendly as possible. "We had lots of conversations with our caterer, Natasha, around ensuring we weren’t wasting food and that everything was locally-sourced from Ireland (except the key limes for our Key Lime Pie dessert!)" Liz says. "We didn’t buy any decorations for the wedding that couldn’t be re-used. With the exception of my wedding dress, we bought clothes and accessories that we would wear again instead of just using them on one day. And our rings are made from ethically-sourced stones and recycled gold."

Liz and Nick's advice for couples planning a destination wedding is to hire an on-the-day coordinator. "The day before the wedding, we were dropping off decorations and fretting about everything, and our coordinator, Laura, just said, 'Leave it all to me. Go enjoy your friends and family. You’ve done the hard part, now let me take over.' That’s the moment I was really able to relax and stop worrying and just have a good time. Hiring Laura helped us be so much more present on the day. We didn't worry about a single logistical thing."

For their honeymoon, Liz and Nick spent two and a half weeks travelling around France, Switzerland, and Italy, which sounds just blissful! "We made stops in Chamonix, Wengen, Lucerne, and Lake Como, surrounded by incredible scenery all the way and eating our weight in cheese."

As you've already likely noticed, the rustic, oversized florals at this wedding were straight-up gorgeous, and tied in beautifully with the couple's sustainable vision! "We worked with Brigid of Fernwood Flowers, who did an absolutely stunning job," Liz says, "and grows most of her own flowers, anything she can’t grow is sourced in Ireland. We didn’t have favours and eliminated a lot of traditions that felt unnecessary or extra, like welcome bags and paper invitations. We wanted the focus to be on our love and our people."

The couple's menu is giving me serious food envy! "Natasha from catering company Honeydew Events is beyond," Liz says. "She took care of everything on the day, she was fastidious in making sure she brought our vision to life, she was so collaborative and accommodating about crafting our menu. We chose a family-style menu with loads of shared plates and lots of veggies, which, coupled with our long table layout, added to the communal feeling of the whole day. The food was utterly phenomenal."

We are totally enamoured with this wedding, and if you are too, we highly recommend clicking through the gallery to see more! But before we leave you, we've got to say a huge thank you to Liz and Nick for giving us the story behind their big day, and to Paula Gillespie for providing the incredible photographs.