All about the gold and glam...

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When you choose a fabulous 18th century mansion as your venue you know your wedding is going to be just a little bit glamorous. Picking the gorgeous Faithlegg House Hotel as their venue, Laura and Ian went all out with glam gold and pearl decor details and a stunning silk wedding dress for bride Laura. No detail was left unattended, and the lovely Egle of White Cat Studio captured them all for us to enjoy...

Winter Faithlegg House Hotel Wedding By White Cat Studio // onefabday.com

Laura tells us how she and Ian first got together..."Ian lived in Dublin before we met, and happened to be living with my good friend Heather’s now husband, Frank. Although I had met Frank loads of times, and had met some of his friends, Ian and I had never met. Heather rang one Wednesday evening, and asked me if I fancied going to a BBQ with her in Dublin that weekend, and I thought why not? I knew only Heather and Frank at the BBQ, and as it was in Frank's house, it was mostly his friends there. Ian was there and although he seemed friendly we didn’t really chat until later in the evening when we all headed to a bar in town..."

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continued..."He made his way to chat to me, and we ended up talking all night. He seemed so down to earth but when he told me he thought I was beautiful I was convinced it was a line and interpreted his actions as insincere. When I told Heather of this the next day, she almost fell over laughing. I know now that I couldn’t have been more wrong, as Ian is one of the kindest, most genuine people I’ve ever met. We met again a couple of months later at another party, and this time, I knew he was being sincere when we chatted for the night. We had our first proper date a week later, and we’ve been inseparable ever since."

That dress...

To propose Ian pulled out all the stops, Laura remembers..."We had always spoken about getting married, and it was part of our long term plan but with just having bought a house I had thought it was a long way off. My parents immigrated to Spain a couple of months into our relationship, but Ian has always had a great relationship with them. He wanted to make sure that they were here to celebrate with us when he did propose, as he knew how much it would mean to both me, and them to have them here. Ian was spending Christmas with his family and as I said goodbye to him on Christmas Eve morning little did I know that he had asked my father for his blessing the night before so plans were already in motion. He had seemed quite distant the night before and kept asking about my plans for Christmas day and approximate time I’d be back to our house, but I didn’t think much of it at the time. I spent the day with my family at my father’s family home and Ian had kept in touch throughout the day by text. We headed home when my mother insisted that it was late (it wasn’t but I know now that she knew and was anxious to get me home and allay Ian’s anxiety!)"

Laura continues..."As we pulled into the drive the first thing I noticed was the candles. It appeared that Ian had lit every candle in the house, not his usual routine! He also came to the front door to greet everyone but when I got out of the car and gathered all of my belongings he had disappeared along with everyone else. I entered the house to candlelight, tea lights lighting the way like a runway to the kitchen. The faint sound of John Legends “all of me” was the next thing to strike me, as I made my way to the kitchen I was quite unsure what was going to greet me. I came in the door, to a nervous looking Ian with a dozen long stem red roses and a ring box down on one knee illuminated by candles everywhere. I’d love to say I said yes immediately but I sobbed and hugged him for almost 10 minutes before finally blubbering yes! My mum appeared and produced champagne which she had hidden in the back garden to chill for fear I would have found it in the fridge. Dad had told her the night before knowing she would kill him for not telling her as soon as he knew! We spent the rest of the evening celebrating and drinking champagne!"

For their wedding Laura and Ian wanted "a vintage feel, with old Hollywood glam elements." To create this look Laura and Ian opted for a glamorous winter wedding at the beautiful Faithlegg House Hotel & Golf Resort.

Laura describes what made Faithlegg perfect for them..."We looked at a number of venues in Munster, but only actually visited one. Driving up the winding road to the main house in Faithlegg, we knew we were going to love it, and we weren’t disappointed when we went inside. It has that vintage feel, and while the ball room can accommodate relatively large numbers it still feels intimate. The food was amazing, so we were sold. The team in Faithlegg were so helpful, we never felt at sea with anything on the run up."

Putting lots of love and attention into each element of the wedding Laura and Ian wanted to ensure the ceremony got just as much thought as the style of the day. Laura recalls..."We spent months looking at readings and songs, ending up with readings from O. J Preston, Robert Fulghum and Meet Joe Black and music from Florence and the Machine, Ellie Goulding and the Lumineers. In a nutshell, it was us! Our wine ceremony had been in the planning for months. We sourced a beautiful bottle of Rioja and a custom box from Etsy and added wax sealed letters to each other during the ceremony. It was originally suggested that this should be opened on our first fight but not wanting to tempt a disagreement we decided to open it on our 5th anniversary instead."

Emulating the glamorous bridal look Laura choose a floor length silk gown, with gold shoes, a bird cage veil and fur stole to keep warm. To complete the look Laura had a beautiful bouquet from Bloomsday Flowers which she added two charms to. She explains..."I made charms for my bouquet with both my sets of grandparents included. The pictures I used for this were scenes of them celebrating and dancing, which made me feel like they walked me up the isle along with my Dad and toasted us at the reception."

The reception look was kept just as glam with lots of gold DIY details, a confetti and cigar bar, gold frame table names and cute ferrero rocher wedding favours.

To compliment the décor Laura and Ian also had an impressive cake table set up using their grandparent's china. Laura told us..."The cake display meant a lot to both of us. The china on the left was my paternal grandmothers, and Ian’s maternal grandmother’s china was on the right. Neither of them were alive to see the day, so we wanted them to be part of it all. Ann Marie from Cherub Couture brought my cake design to life with such precision, we were thrilled. Topped off with the floral display and a love cake topper which I sourced from Etsy, it was everything we wanted and more."

Following their glam Faithlegg House Hotel wedding Laura and Ian took a min-moon to The Bonerowski Palace in Krakow for four nights and are now planning a honeymoon that will include Kuala Lumpar, Borneo and a longer stay in The Datai Resort Langkawi. Huge congratulations to you both and thanks so much for sharing your wedding with us all!