Mark and Lesley's lovely Ballydugan Mill wedding involved embracing serendipity, those happy accidents that lead you to what you never even knew you wanted. After a long romance, their engagement was a whirlwind of just 9 weeks! And while they thought initially they would have a marquee wedding, stumbling upon the beautiful three story mill at Ballydugan led to a homemade and handmade celebration that was picture perfectly 'them'. Connor McCullough brought us this lovely homespun wedding and we can't wait to share the love...

Mark and Lesley met when they were just teenagers, anxiously awaiting Mark's driver's test so they could have a little more freedom to spend time together. Nine years later, Mark contemplated a lot of proposal options before landing on a plan that would keep Lesley guessing. Over the course of two days, Mark plotted many decoy surprises for Lesley so that his ultimate surprise would be unexpected. The very last decoy involved a phone call to say that Mark's sheep had escaped and that he'd have to go round them up.  Little did Lesley know, Mark was setting up tea lights at the jetty where they had their original date! He'd even had the engagement ring designed specially with all the little details Lesley had mentioned over the years. Very romantic!

While they spent 9 years dating, the couple only took 9 weeks from engagement to wedding day! I'm frankly amazed at how they pulled everything together so quickly, so beautifully, so it's one to take heart from if you're feeling overwhelmed by all the wedding planning madness. It might have been short but it was fun according to Lesley..." It was a whirlwind, everything was make do and mend and very relaxed.

The couple accented their attire with pops of yellow which paired beautifully with Mark's navy suit and the bride's lace gown, and those fantastic cars!

Mark and Lesley set about their planning with the idea of a marquee wedding in mind, but when Mark discovered the Ballyduggan Mill, the two opened their minds to the idea of a mill wedding - and we're so glad they did! One of the best parts of the venue was that the couple and their guests could have all three floors, so they kept moving up for the different parts of the celebration.

After settling on the venue, Mark and Lesley wanted to fill their wedding with all of their favourite things. They've developed a real love for vintage china and have spent the last few years trawling through junk shops looking for treasures - which came in awfully handy for their wedding! The couple also painted the mismatched chairs for the head table and now use some of them in their house!

Now you might have noticed the coca cola bottles earlier, and wondered... well Mark and Lesley have a long lasting love of Coca Cola, so instead of a champagne toast they opted for a Coke toast! Adorable!

Lesley's advice echoes the couple's mentality about their whole wedding - Sometimes things going differently are happy mistakes. What a wonderful point of view!

For their honeymoon, Mark and Lesley took a cruise around the Mediterranean! Congratulations, Mark and Lesley! Thanks to Connor McCullough for sharing the result of the couple's serendipitous planning!

The Wedding Details

• Ceremony: Ballymagrane Presbyterian Church
• Reception: Tea party at Ballymagrane Church Hall
• Reception: the Ballydugan Mill 
• Wedding Dress: Petticoat Lane
• Bridesmaids dresses: Divinty Bridal
• Shoes: Sitara Morgan
• Flowers: Alan Chambers
• Groom(smen)’s suits: Next
• Bridal headpiece: LoveLesley
• Cake: Cakes by Rosemary

• Cars: Derek Loane Motors
• Wedding Favours: Brooches & napkins from LoveLesley & Chocolate lollies from Knorr & Brown
• Stationery: Ali Marriott Stationery
• Make Up & Hair: Effortless Beauty & Gemma Mannagh
• Wedding Bands: Richard Caldwell Jewellers
• Ceremony Music: Tracey Martin & Rebecca Wilson
• Reception Music:  Haste to the wedding