Emma and Ken were the first in their families to get engaged so their wedding day at The Millhouse was filled with even more excitement and enthusiasm than most. With all this anticipation, Emma and Ken went all out, personalising their wedding with fun pops of colour, kitsch wedding decorations and giant colourful balloons at every turn. The result? A bright, beautiful, and most importantly, incredibly fun wedding day - captured for us to enjoy by both Elisha Clarke and the lovely Birds Of A Feather.
Emma describes how she fell in love with groom Ken..."Ken and I met 5 years ago on Derby day in Kildare town. I was on a night out with friends and got separated from them and ended up meeting Ken on the street! We eventually found my friends and spent the rest of the night with them (Ken was very patient and put up with a lot of screaming and shouting as my friends can be slightly loud!) Ken won my heart when he turned up to my house for our first official date with a bunch of flowers. After that we started dating but I moved to Galway for a year to do my masters. When I returned we moved in together and have been going strong ever since."
Whilst on holidays in America Ken proposed to an astounded, and delighted Emma. She remembers..."We did a road trip of the southern states of the US culminating with two days in New Orleans (that’s where the table names came from). We went on a Jazz cruise on an old steamboat called the Natchez down the Mississippi river. Ken was very nervous and acting strangely but I was just so happy to be there that I didn't notice. After dinner he asked me to take a walk on the top deck – I had other ideas and said we should get another drink, which we did (Ken ordered whiskey which he knocked back – again I didn't notice!) While I was admiring the beautiful skyline of New Orleans, Ken got down on one knee and asked me to marry him – to which I replied “are you having a laugh?” Which he will not let me forget. Obviously I was just in shock and said yes as soon as I realised that it was really happening. Ken had picked a beautiful vintage ring that fitted perfectly - I couldn't have done better myself!"
Having attended a wedding at The Millhouse years previously Emma knew instantly that it was the perfect wedding venue for them. She explains ..."From the minute we got engaged I only had one venue in mind and they only had one date left! We saw one more venue but for me it was The Millhouse’s quirkiness and also the ability to be creative and bring in some of our own touches that won it for me."
Both the colourful ceremony and reception were held at The Millhouse, with friends performing the ceremony music and a huge group selfie to complete proceedings. Emma recalls..."The ceremony was really special to us, we worked with Gary Baitson our solemniser to create a ceremony that was all about us and the commitment we were making. Friends and family read readings that they chose themselves which they felt represented us as a couple (my friend Stacey even wrote a poem!)"
Echoing the informal, colourful ceremony Emma and Ken decorated the rest of the venue with lots of fun décor including handmade giant balloon tassels, gold spray painted dinosaurs and pineapples, flamingos and a selection of vibrant flowers displayed in gold sprayed jars and tins.
To keep things as personal as possible Emma prepared a secret video, whilst Ken gifted Emma and extra special gift. Emma recounts..."One of the special moments for me was during my speech - I played a video that I had been working on for the last year which featured 1 second a day from the year leading up to our wedding. Our guests were delighted to see memories from during the year and it really brought the house down - it was a very proud moment. My father also had the whole crowd in tears with his speech! Another special touch was Ken’s present to me which was a gold chain which he had made from the remainder of his mother's wedding ring (we also had our wedding bands made from it - it was huge!) with a Peridot in the middle which is the same stone as my engagement ring."
Advice wise Emma has some sage words of advice..."Things will never go 100% to plan so just go with it. Also know when enough is enough (for you) when it comes to decorations, remember it is just one day and try not spend a fortune on decorations that most of your guests won’t even notice! Focus on you as a couple and everything will organically go from there. One of the nicest compliments my friend gave me was everyone was so happy on the day because they could see that Ken and I were so relaxed and enjoying the day the way we wanted it to be. Also I can’t recommend enough having the ceremony and the reception at the same place (if you can) It took out so much hassle for our guests (and us), when they arrived at the venue they could relax immediately knowing that they didn’t have to travel anywhere else after the ceremony."
For their honeymoon Emma and Ken returned to America - visiting Orlando and Miami, before taking a Caribbean Cruise. Huge congratulations to you both and thanks so much for sharing your colourful Millhouse wedding with us all!
A big thank you also goes to Elisha Clarke for sharing her work with us, to see more from Elisha Clarke visit www.elishaclarke.com, and if you loved this wedding be sure to check out Emma and Ken's wonderful wedding by Birds Of A Feather below...
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Ceremony: The Millhouse
Videographer: Birds Of A Feather
