The most loved up festival of the summer.

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It's every couple's nightmare: on the morning of Cat and Justin's outdoor festival wedding in Loughcrew, the rain began to pour. Breath was held, fingers and toes were crossed and just before the ceremony, the clouds parted! So Cat was able to walk the aisle outdoors in the ruined church to Justin just as they envisaged, and their pals were set for the most fun day ever. Cat and Justin treated guests to a full day of real festival fun including courtyard dancing and even a bespoke campsite for guests to stay at. The absolute dream for all you festival and DIY lovers. Hope you enjoy this wedding as much as Cat and Justin clearly did...

Cat and Justin's Outdoor Wedding at Loughcrew Gardens by Darek Novak | onefabday.com

Cat and Justin first met through mutual friends in their first year of University in Wales, but it wasn't until three years later that they really hit if off and became really good friends. Then finally, through a lot of persistence on Justin's part, they finally got together.

Together 8 years, Justin decided to surprise Cat with a trip to New York for her birthday - a trip she'd often talked and dreamed about. "I was turning 30 and Justin totally surprised me by booking flights to New York for 5 nights! The morning of my birthday we went to Central Park to do some ice skating. Afterwards while walking through the park, Justin suggested we sit down near a lake to eat our breakfast picnic that we had brought with us. I was taking pictures and didn't realise that Justin went down on one knee and then asked me to marry him! I was so surprised and of course I said yes! We completely forgot how public we were and didn't realise that people on the bridge over the lake had seen what happened. A few people then came over and congratulated us! It was just perfect!

For their wedding, the important thing Cat and Justin wanted to achieve was that all of their guests were looked after and had fun, so they set out planning a gorgeous festival style celebration.

Finding the perfect venue for their festival wedding wasn't exactly easy. Cat and Justin spent months searching then finally found the stunning Loughcrew in the One Fab Day 100 Best Wedding Venue Guide. "We really didn't want a hotel wedding and just wanted something a bit different. It took some time but eventually I found Loughcrew in the One Fab Day top 100 venues. On our first viewing we fell in love with it straight away and booked it a few days later. It was a DIY wedding and basically we could do what we wanted with the room and the grounds to make it personal to us. This was exactly what we wanted. George from Loughcrew was great and very accommodating."

The ceremony was an intimate affair, and one of Cat and Justin's top moments of the day, they explain, "The ceremony was our favourite part of the day. It was very personal to us and was lovely that we could get our close family and friends involved. Bernice our celebrant was just so nice and made it very special. The ruins of the church were just amazing to get married in and thankfully the rain just stopped before I arrived and the sun shone throughout the ceremony. It was perfect."

To help decorate the large outdoor ceremony and reception spaces at Loughcrew House and Gardens, Cat and Justin enlisted family and friends, and together they got busy DIYing. "I made the cake topper, the bunting in the car, the cake table and the card box. All the other bunting that was used outside was made by Justin's sister and mother. My mother made the bouquets and the flower arrangements on the tables and the other flowers around the courtyard where stolen from her garden! My cousin Bernie made the cakes for the dessert table. All the rest of our close family helped out in setting up and with the finishing touches. We could not have done it without the help of our family!"

Don't you just adore Cat's embellished Sharon Hoey dress?

Luckily after a few rainy showers in the morning the sun shone for Cat and Justin, allowing guests to chill outdoors before heading inside for their meal. Cat and Justin even set up a little camping area, to help cut costs for travelling relatives. "We also had a lot of Justin’s family and friends coming over from the UK and we really wanted to minimise the expense for them. In line with the festival experience, we wanted to create we opted to build a tent village. The tent village was only metres from the main courtyard and venue and was made up of small two-man tents, welcome packs and access to bbq’s. It was received brilliantly by everyone and well worth the effort."

If you're thinking of having a similar DIY wedding with lots of different elements, Cat has some words of advice that might help avoid stress on the day. "If you are doing a DIY wedding maybe consider getting a wedding co-ordinator to have on the day to ensure it runs smoothly and put your mind at ease. We did everything ourselves and don’t regret that decision but we must admit that it would of been easier to have one."

After dinner everyone headed back outside, where Cat and Justin had their band set up, along with ice cream for the smaller guests. Huge congratulations guys, and thanks so much for sharing your wonderful festival wedding with us all.