We often hear from couples who want their big day to feel like an epic holiday with all of their favourite people, but there's no reason why you can't create that vibe in your home country! In fact, the couple in today's real wedding did just that! Cathal and Caroline love travelling, so, naturally, they wanted their wedding to feel like a big adventure, which is why they whisked their guests off to the secluded little church at Gougane Barra in Ballingeary, Co. Cork, before heading to Dunmore House Hotel on the shores of Clonakilty Bay for dinner and dancing. Their Gougane Barra wedding was captured in glorious detail by Art Wedding Photography and we're delighted to be sharing it with you today!

Caroline tells us that she met Cathal on a seemingly run-of-the-mill night out in Cork. "I was out with the girls and we ended up in our usual spot, Havanas in Cork city," she remembers. "The girls recognised a bunch of lads from the Gaeltacht from their days at Irish college in Ballingeary. Myself and Cathal got chatting and clicked immediately. We shared our first kiss that night and the rest is history!"

It sounds like Cathal is a dyed-in-the-wool romantic! "Cathal is always surprising me," Caroline says. "An example of this would be him planning a surprise trip to New York in 2015, planning surprise birthday parties, and trips away around Ireland, to name but a few."

As you might imagine, Cathal had something very special up his sleeve for the proposal. "He had planned for us to take a walk in Fota Gardens, and for a plane to fly overhead with the words, 'Caroline, will you marry me?' trailing behind on a banner," Caroline tells us. "After weeks of planning, the day came, and with it came some awful weather. The plane had to be cancelled at the last minute, but he still went ahead with his plan. He went down on one knee and I must say, it's a moment I will never forget."

I absolutely love this photograph of Cathal trying to sneak a peek at Caroline! Well captured, Art Wedding Photography!

The couple tell us that their priorities for the wedding were very simple. "We really wanted everyone to have a fun, memorable day. We wanted our day to reflect us as a couple and to reflect our story so far. Sebastian from Art Wedding Photography really captured the fun and laughter of our day - from the church to the speeches, a lot of our photos feature people laughing. We loved his style of photography and his fly-on-the-wall approach."

Cathal and Caroline used their travels as inspiration for the look and feel of their day. "Travelling became a big part of our relationship from the beginning. We travelled to as many countries as we could from South Africa to Thailand to America and many more, making memories everywhere we went. We wanted our wedding to reflect the adventures we had over the years, and the vibe for our day was definitely fun, colour and adventure throughout. Bright colours of pink, purple and orange also featured in our day, which again added to the fun vibe."

The couple tell us that they only viewed the Dunmore House Hotel, on a whim! "The second we walked into the reception room, Cathal said my face lit up. We loved it! The room was fresh bright and the view behind the top table of the sea really did it for us."

Caroline chose a beautiful lace Justin Alexander gown for the big day, adding a vintage-inspired twist with T-Bar heels by Charlotte Mills and a delicate, beaded veil from The Wedding Veil Shop.

Caroline's bridesmaids wore complementary pink and berry shades, which work so well with the colourful floral design by Vintage Cut Flowers!

As you might expect, this couple had a pretty exciting honeymoon planned for after the wedding. "We love travelling and wanted to make this the most special adventure of all. We went to Miami, Costa Rica and Mexico. We are big animal lovers so Costa Rica was perfect for that. We travelled around Costa Rica from the Pacific coast to the Atlantic coast, and then finished up in Mexico in Secret Silversands, where we totally relaxed and soaked up the rays."

Caroline's advice to engaged couples is to "pick your suppliers wisely. Don’t rush into anything, there is such a huge choice of suppliers these days that you can afford to be fussy. We did our research, thought about it and picked the suppliers that we thought were best for us. As a result we were extremely happy with everything, we felt so relaxed and our day ran smoothly. It’s one of the most important days of your life, you don’t want to have to worry about a thing. Pick the right suppliers and worrying won’t be an issue." Here, here!

Caroline tells us that she loved flexing her creative muscles in the run up to the wedding. "We made a lot of the décor items ourselves," she says. "We made our own table plan with the help of our groomsman, Ian. It was a map of the world, and each table was linked to a place we had visited that was special to us!"

The DIY details didn't stop there! "We also printed our own table names," Caroline says. "Our table names were depicted with a picture of us each of the places we'd visited. The teacher really came out in me when I made the 'Our love story' blackboard, which featured a timeline of important events in our love story."

It looks like the speeches at this wedding were next-level! "Everyone was in stitches," Caroline tells us. "Between puns, a powerpoint presentation with plenty of photoshopped items and a bit of Latin, this was a very special part of the day for us too."

What a gorgeous day! Thanks so much to Cathal and Caroline for letting us fawn over their fun-filled wedding, and to Art Wedding Photography for sharing the beautiful images.