Hope you all had a super weekend despite the torrential rain, guess that means the Indian Summer is over 🙁 I hear Jack Frost is our next weathery guest. Sigh... Well no matter, because every day we're making it our business to bring you lovely happy, beautiful inspirations, which should go a long way to […]

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Hope you all had a super weekend despite the torrential rain, guess that means the Indian Summer is over 🙁 I hear Jack Frost is our next weathery guest. Sigh... Well no matter, because every day we're making it our business to bring you lovely happy, beautiful inspirations, which should go a long way to dispelling those grey skies (and moods).

Today we have a lovely real wedding from the Kingdom of Kerry - Giolla and Keith were married during the Summer in Kenmare, celebrating a relationship that stretches way back in time but I'll leave it to Giolla to fill you in...

Bigger Picture Photography - Giolla & Keith

So how did you two get together?

Keith and I have known each other my whole life. He is my brother’s friend and is four years older than me. One St. Patrick’s Day while in the local pub — The Last Chance, Rathcabbin, Keith asked if he could take me out on a date. I was so shocked as I has always fancied Keith but I think every younger sister has a crush on her brother’s friends at some stage or another. I said that I’d like that and we went on our first date to Galway to a lovely little restaurant overlooking the water in Barna. However, this did not go down well with my brother but we continued to date for a further 4 years before we got married and my brother is well over it now.

And how did he pop the question? We picked out the ring together in August 2010, but we didn’t get engaged until December! Every weekend we went away I was sure it would be that weekend but it wasn’t. I had almost given up on getting it. We headed off for Barcelona just before Christmas last year. It was a desperate journey up to Dublin because of the weather at the time and we were the last flight out of Dublin airport before it was shut down due to weather conditions. We ate Christmas dinner in a beautiful restaurant at the top of our hotel which overlooked the city. Keith was acting very strange by the time the main course was finished. I was talking away to him but he appeared totally distracted and kept looking around him at everyone else. Needless to say I was not impressed with the lack of conversation from him. He then excused himself and said he had to go to the bathroom and was gone for quite some time. I later discovered he went back to the room to get the ring! When he came back almost all the other tables had cleared, he got down on bended knee and asked me to marry him, and then we partied away the night as all the pubs were open in Barcelona. We called all our families and friends to tell them the good news.

After the ceremony at Holy Cross Church in Kenmare, the happy couple headed down the road to the Kenmare Bay Hotel for some celebrations, but how did this Tipperary couple choose the Kingdom for their wedding? "We want to get married somewhere away from home. We wanted somewhere coastal and with a small town feel. We went to view Kenmare after a family member suggested it and we were so impressed with the hotel and staff that we just knew they would make our day perfect — and they did."

What advice do you have for other couples?
I know everyone says it but it goes so fast so try to take it all in and enjoy it. Also I had a full body massage the day before which really helped to relax me. When you wake up the morning of the wedding all the hard work and planning is over and it is really time to enjoy and cherish this most special of days! Also try to take ten minutes out - just the two of you during the day so you can just take in what’s going on around you.