A Big Irish Knees Up: Siobhán & Lea

The craic, ceol and Guinness were flowing in East Cork

Today's real wedding features a pair of hopeless romantics, who were best friends at school and fell in love at university. As the bride's dad is Irish, the couple - and 92 guests! - made the journey from the UK to East Cork for a weekend of craic agus ceol at The Garryvoe Hotel. Siobhán & Lea's fun celebration was laden with pretty florals, chic style and personal touches. With shamrock confetti, a music theme throughout, and of course, the Guinness flowing - Susie Kelly Photography was hand to capture the lot.

Siobhán & Lea’s story is so sweet, this couple started out as best friends in high school! Siobhán tells us the rest, “We went to the same university in Leicester and romance naturally blossomed! After university, my career took me to Hertfordshire, 200 miles away from the groom. He drove up and down the country every week, whilst finishing his degree and still doing his gigs, singing every weekend and after two years of managing a long distance relationship, we both decided to move in together in Warrington and save up for our first house which came the following year.”

Team bride! What a cute family photo!

Lea planned a surprise trip to Reykjavik to pop the question, “Overlooking Gulfoss waterfall, he got down and one knee,” Siobhán explains. “It was the most romantic thing he has ever done and I went from crying a lot to hysterical laughing to cry some more – all the emotions! We spent the next day relaxing in the Blue Lagoon talking about weddings and then flew on another (!) surprise trip for a few days in Copenhagen to continue the celebrations.” Two holidays, Lea, marry us too please!

The clutch, the shoes - loving Siobhán's accessory game!

Siobhán tells us the story behind her gorgeous wedding dress, “After spotting the dress on Instagram during Barcelona Bridal Fashion week in April 2016 and after months of researching and a lot of messages to the flagship store in Madrid, the dress luckily came for a one-off designer weekend to Knutsford, six miles away from where we live. It was meant to be and was bought without any hesitation!”

The couple wanted a wedding that would reflect their personalities, “Music is something we both love and the entertainment and decorations definitely reflected this. So many people said to us “this is just you two down to a T” and that was the biggest compliment. It was a lot of people's first time in Ireland so we wanted to show everyone a true Irish experience - food, drink and feckin' good craic!” Here, here!

The bride and groom say they picked three priorities from the very beginning, “They were really important to us and we feel make or break a wedding - location, food and entertainment. We wanted people to fall in love with Ireland and Ballycotton like we have and this was always our objective when planning. You always remember food that isn’t great at a wedding and there is nothing worse than being hungry so we wanted to make sure food was a big focus on the day and the menu did not disappoint! The menu tasting at the Garryvoe was one of the best experiences and they could not do enough for us, it was all amazing and we really struggled to pick our favourites!”

The final priority came down to their shared love of music, “Lastly, with Lea being a singer himself, he knew the entertainment needed to be brilliant. People did not stop dancing all night and the live music was definitely something worth spending on to entertain the guests.”

What a beaut - Siobhán's bouquet is fabulous too.

The couple added some local flair to their ceremony music, “The ceremony music was sung by a local Ballycotton resident Ricky Walsh who we discovered when visiting. He was rehearsing for a carol service and we were blown away by his voice realised we had to have him! He is not a wedding singer but agreed to sing for us and he was absolutely brilliant. His uncle, Mossey, played the organ and accordion with him. A rendition of Raglan Road was chosen especially for the bride's father which he loved.”

The couple were really blown away by everyone who travelled to be with them on their big day, “92 people came to Ireland from the UK, with one bridesmaid flew from Hong Kong to be a part of the the day!”

Lea & Siobhán’s top tip for for other couples? Don’t sweat the small stuff, “In the lead up to the day, it is easy to get bogged down by details, but on the day, everything will look amazing so focus on your priorities and try not get distracted by the minor details. The things you worry about for months before that could happen on the day won't happen so try not to have the sleepless nights worrying about falling over walking up the aisle.”

Siobhán says having a clear picture of what they wanted really helped with their planning, “When you start planning pick three priorities of what you want, achieving these will result in the perfect day for you and will be the things people talk about for years to come. This will also avoid you getting distracted by insignificant things that have potential to stress you out!”

Siobhán is also a big advocate for hiring a videographer, “We disagreed on this in the midst of planning and I decided I was booking one anyway having heard this advice from so many brides. It was the best money we ever spent and Guy from Your Short Film captured it all absolutely perfectly. We must have watched it a thousand times since receiving it!”

Siobhán’s dad took the whole wedding for a pint to give the guests a taste of Ireland, “He treated everyone to a pint of Guinness in the Blackbird Pub in Ballycotton before heading to the hotel for the drinks reception.”

Music featured heavily in the reception decor, “All the table names were bands we had been to see, with the date and venue and a suitable lyric relating to us, printed onto an album cover, with a vinyl record listing everyone's names on the table. The albums were then used to write the guests messages on and all were put into a record box on the top table as the guest book.”

One finishing touch was painstakingly created by Siobhán’s mother, “She pressed real Irish shamrock for months before the wedding to be used to decorate the tables for the wedding breakfast.” Doesn’t it look pretty though!

A thoughtful charity wedding favour is always appreciated by guests.

The couple had a few days to chill out in Ireland after the wedding, “We went up to the Fitzpatrick Castle in Killiney Co.Dublin. The bride’s Dad used to live in Dalkey so this is a place close to our hearts and felt very fitting to visit on the way back to the UK. We then flew home and went straight to Italy, travelling to Rome, Sardinia and Naples. Over Christmas 2017 we are going to Australia to continue our honeymoon with Christmas in Melbourne, New Year in Sydney with a stay in Bali to relax at the end.” Now that’s what I call a honeymoon.

Siobhán & Lea only viewed one venue, and it was love at first site, “The staff were exceptional from first contact, throughout the entire process, especially when trying to plan a wedding from the UK. Nothing was too much trouble and they have coordinating weddings down to a fine art. The manager, Stephen Belton, ensures every single wedding at the Garryvoe is planned to perfection with absolutely no glitches. He was always on hand for meetings when we were in Ireland and could not be more helpful.”

And of the course the wedding band was filled with friends, “Lea is a wedding singer so we flew our own band from the UK who were people he has played with before (Alex and James Dee and Jack McCarthy) They sang and performed an acoustic set during the drinks reception and also performed in the evening when the groom joined them for a select few songs.”

Lea practised a song for Siobhán for months before the wedding, “He sang a six minute acoustic version of Photograph by Ed Sheeran, playing guitar and the bride and all three bridesmaids danced together as the first time they had all been in the same place together. It was a really special moment.” So sweet!

And as if you didn’t think this pair were meant to be, just listen to what they got each other as wedding gifts, “We both surprised each other on the day with identical Tag Heuer Carrera watches, without any idea either was buying a watch let alone the exact same model!”. And that wasn’t all, as Siobhán tells us, “A few days before the wedding, Lea surprised me on a moonlit stroll along Shanagarry beach and revealed he would be taking on my surname so we would become Mr and Mrs McManus-Price. At the end of his speech, he raised a toast using glasses of Guinness to the McManus-Prices, the best wedding present he could have given me (along with a Tag Heuer watch obviously).” Obviously!

I have a feeling that party went on into the wee hours! Thanks so much to Siobhán and Lea for telling us all about their day, and to Susie Kelly Photography for capturing it so beautifully!

The Wedding Details 

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