Today's real wedding is beyond gorgeous. Julie & Jonny live and work in Dunfanaghy, Donegal, and brought their friends and family from around the world to their garden - with views over the Atlantic - for a day of food, music, cute collies and great company. The hands-on couple (with the help of their family and friends!) got involved in every aspect of their day, from the aesthetics to the edibles, putting their day jobs as pizzeria owners and a ceramic designer to good use. Sarah Fyffe Photography documented this beautiful marquee wedding at home, and as you're about to see, it's positively packed with inspiration!

Julie and Jonny say they wanted their wedding to be personal and quirky. “We really wanted to put our own stamp on the day. We also wanted it to be a real local affair, anything we couldn’t do ourselves we tried to keep as local as possible. We wanted it to be a relaxed and fun day for our guests.”

Julie designed these beautiful invitations with the help of a friend - you can read more about her DIY skills below!

As visual people, the couple tell us they wanted the day to look a certain way, “Incorporating our love of vintage mismatched objects with the beauty of the Donegal landscape, wildflowers the natural world etc. With Jonny growing up in Scotland and me in Northern Ireland, we wanted our friends and family to see the beauty of the area that we live in,” Julie explains. “For a lot of our guests, it was their first time in Donegal. Particularly the groom’s sister, her husband and their family who live in Australia.”

So many beautiful blooms!

The day was filled with gorgeous blooms from a variety of sources, “Bouquets and flowers for men’s suit lapels were by by Abigail Ryan at Petal Studio, Belfast Centre Pieces did the marquee and the church arrangements wild flowers grown by local growers Kate and Evan Pamely in their garden. Other floral arrangements including the church pews were by the bride’s mother Jackie.”

Nothing like a tricky ring moment, to break the nervous tension during a wedding ceremony!

Ahead of the marquee reception, the couple arrange drinks for their guests in their local, "After the church guests walked down to traditional pub Patsy Dans while we were taken on our friend’s horse and carriage. Guests enjoyed traditional music whilst we pulled our first pint of Guinness. Tea and sandwiches were then served in our pizzeria which is conveniently located behind Patsy Dans! Guests then went to a marquee at Julie’s family home for dinner and dancing.”

The couple hit the beautiful beach with their wedding party for their portrait session with Sarah Fyffe Photography.

Julie and Jonny tells us what made their day truly special, “Having all of our family, friends and animals celebrating together in the most unique and special place. Our best man Kits and father of the bride Brian’s funny and touching speeches. Having friends and family involved from the music, cake, food, cars etc. The help and support from our close family and wedding party. We really appreciate how everyone came together and helped us pull off the day.”

Such a gorgeous bunch of gals!

You know we're suckers for a dog in a dickie bow!

Julie kept the wedding car in the family too, “The Vintage MG midget is from the bride's grandfather’s private collection of vintage cars.”

The couple had 160 guests for the day part of their wedding, “Then half the village and all of our neighbours joined us for the evening!”

The couple treated their guests to music throughout the day, “The church entrance music, hymns and processional music were all played by close family friend and renowned pianist Jane Dalzell. Accompanied by friend Beatrice Henderson on the cello. For the reception, we had traditional music played as guests arrived at the marquee by Sarah Cullen, Ruari Friel and Declan McClafferty (From ‘In Their Thousands’ band) and the later, the band was The Daylight Wobblies.

The couple laid out the priorities for their celebration, “1. As food lovers, we wanted food that was locally produced, sourced and cooked. 2. Showcasing the produce and landscape of Donegal 3. Our family and friends. Getting everyone together to celebrate.” Jonny says. “We were delighted that the bride’s elderly grandparents could join us. Julie’s 93-year-old grandfather Charlie and 90-year-old grandmother Eveline both made the journey from NI.”

And the final priority, getting their four collie dogs involved in the day, “Our handsome dickie bow-wearing collie Fionn made it into most of the wedding photos! The female dogs wore floral garlands and the males dickie bows made by the brides textile artist sister Lauren.”

Rather than booking a traditional wedding venue, the bride and groom chose to create their own, “We decided to make the bride’s traditional old house their venue. The house is very old worldly in style with beautiful gardens and is situated on The Wild Atlantic Way with views over Muckish mountain, Falcarragh beach and Tory Island.”

The couple loved that they could get creative with how the venue looked, “Choosing a canvas ring pole tent by LPM Bohemia with Chinoiserie printed fabric walls. The bride, her sister and parents are all avid collectors of old objects, set to work sourcing vintage style crockery, candelabras, centre pieces etc.” Jonny tells us.

The couple came up with a vintage style that combined their love of wildlife, “Creating our own venue meant we could arrange everything ourselves and it was a very DIY wedding with most of our friends and family getting roped into helping with something! For which we are very grateful, particularly in the few days leading up to the wedding. It was a lot of work!”

As local restaurant owners, the couple arranged the catering themselves too, “Using two local chefs, the food was cooked in our pizzeria’s kitchen and in our mobile wood fired oven at the marquee. Hiring half the village to deliver the meal alongside our great team from our pizzeria in the village, The Rusty Oven. We also used our mobile wood fired oven to make our sourdough pizzas for the evening snack. Talented local chefs Allasdar O’Riada and John Corcoran delivered a sit down meal of wood fired local fish and organic chicken. With Antipasti board starters using The Rusty Oven’s sourdough bread and chocolate and pecan brownies by An Panc local bakery.” Well that sounds like quite the feast!

Julie made the wedding favours and lots of the finishing touches in her studio, “Handmade porcelain tags imprinted with ferns that grow around the studio and hand-painted names in gold lustre. The embroidered linen napkins and handkerchiefs a gift from the bride’s work associates Winitex in Malaysia. The stationary was a four piece invitation, menus and order of service featuring Irish flora and fauna ink drawings by the bride. Navigated and designed as a wedding gift from friend Megan.”

Their advice for other couples in the same boat? “Book a hotel!!! Keep it relaxed and try and relax and enjoy it.”

The couple’s wedding cake had a local touch too, “The cake was by our friend Rosena at ‘Top Tier by Rosena.’ A naked cake in three flavours Sicilian Lemon, Orange and Vanilla. “ Jonny tells us. “The handmade ceramic hare cake toppers were made by the bride ‘Julie Scott Ceramics’ at her Flora and Fauna Studio in Dunfanaghy.

The couple had a minimoon before their big trip, “We went to the K Club as we had a busy summer looming at the pizzeria. We then travelled through Vietnam and onto Australia later in the year.”

So many gorgeous details! Thanks so much to Julie and Jonny for sharing their day with us and to Sarah Fyffe Photography for sending these beautiful photos our way!