Today's real wedding is a dream blend of clever design, gorgeous homemade details, and relaxed vibes. Annabel and Marcus said their vows in the pretty blue church of St Mary's in Derrytrasna, Co. Armagh before heading to the bride's family home for their marquee reception on the shores of Lough Neagh. Both designers, the couple (who live in Dublin's Stoneybatter, but tell us they got there before the hipsters!) planned and styled the wedding themselves, with a huge helping hand from their family and friends. The wonderful Remain In Light Photography captured the beautiful dress, the fab shoes, the cool stationery, impressive florals and one very smiley couple. 

The couple met through mutual friends, “We’re both designers (I work in fashion, Marcus works in graphic/digital) and we have a large group of common friends who all work together or graduated around the same time,” explains Annabel. “Back in 2011 I really wanted to go see Drive but no-one else except Marcus was really interested in the charms of Ryan Gosling driving around to a synth soundtrack for 90mins…”

“We arranged to go see the film as a quasi-unofficial date, but ended up talking over pre-movie drinks until they became during- and post-movie drinks,” recalls Marcus, “Things just kind of went from there. We did see the movie eventually though!”

We love that this pair didn’t have a traditional engagement, “There wasn’t really an actual proposal, we just decided that it was a good idea to get married, so we did!”

Annabel and Marcus tell us about their vision for their marquee wedding, “We basically just wanted to have a really fun party with our family, friends, and loved ones. We’re both designers but we tried not to over-design things, or have too many formal or traditional aspects to the day apart from the wedding ceremony.”

How gorgeous is Annabel's mum's wedding day style - we'll be sending this on to any mothers of the bride or groom looking for inspiration!

The ceremony was laced with personal connections for the couple, “Having the ceremony in St Mary’s was special because my paternal grandparents were married there, says Annabel, “Marcus and one of his groomsmen Bobby Tannam designed a typeface based on some of the lettering found around the church and attached school (dating from the 1890s) where my dad went to school.”

Along with their choice of church for the ceremony, the couple tell us there were lots of nods to the past throughout the day, “Marcus’s mum and dad gifted us a silver coin that they used on their wedding day and we incorporated it into our own ceremony, while Annabel’s evening outfit was a vintage outfit from her mother and her bracelet incorporated an emerald from her mum’s original engagement ring.”

There was some modern details too! “Marcus loves emoji and we did individual emoji portraits for all the guests, and we also snuck some Kanye lyrics into the mass booklet.”

These bridesmaids shoes are fabulous! We've got a full line up further down the page, but just had to share this close-up!

The couple fell on a few priorities early in the planning process, “Great food, great music, a nice relaxed atmosphere where we could enjoy ourselves and everyone could have fun on the day without it being formal or forced.”

The trailing green amaranthus ties the centrepieces in beautifully with the bridal bouquet.

The choice of venue was an easy decision for Annabel and Marcus. “It’s basically Annabel’s family’s garden! The house looks right onto the south shore of Lough Neagh and once Annabel’s folks were happy to let us have the reception there there was no thought of having it anywhere else,” says Marcus, “It had its challenges due to logistics of getting everything there (not to mention cutting about an acre of grass every weekend) but all suppliers made it as easy as possible for us.”

The couple named their tables after their favourite designers from fashion and graphic design.

Marcus designed all the stationery, and for wedding favours the couple used the same M and A motif, “We designed enamel pins ourselves, produced by Made by Cooper.” Oh and did you spot the personalised emojis? 

We so impressed that these stunning florals were designed by Annabel’s mum and neighbour Verona.

Those cocktails sound delicious! How pretty is the bar too!

As well as looking after the flowers, Annabel’s talented mum Christine also baked the wedding cake, “She made a Strawberry and Marc de Champagne sponge with buttercream icing.”

One major upside to having tea-length bridesmaid dresses? You get to go all out on the shoes!

After planning and styling their own big day, Marcus and Annabel have tips for other couples in the throes of it, “Don’t worry about the things that other people think you should have or do at your wedding. It’s your day, make sure you enjoy it first and foremost, and your family and guests will enjoy it too.”

The couple jetted off for a two week honeymoon in Mexico, “We went to Secrets Maroma Beach in Playa del Carmen. We went a couple of days after the wedding and it was totally worth it to go straight away, we basically melted by the pool for the whole time. We got great advice from Victoria in Clubworld Travel in Lurgan.”

Annabel changed up her look for the evening with a vintage number that belonged to her mum.

Thanks so much to Annabel and Marcus for telling us the story behind your day, and of course to Remain in Light Photography for sharing it with us.