A change of plans never looked so good...

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Today's real wedding shows how beautiful a micro-wedding in the city can be. Lisa and Mikey managed to create an intimate feeling at their big city wedding from their ceremony in the Dublin Registry Office to their reception in the Merrion Hotel. The romantic day proves that even in the middle of the capital, you can create a truly beautiful celebration that's all yours. The day was all captured by Brosnan Photographic.

Lisa and Mikey's meet-cute is a tale as old as time and a story that will ring true to many others. "We met the old-fashioned way," Lisa teased. "... On a Wednesday night in Coppers nearly 10 years ago!" You've got to love it.

While their meeting was left up to chance, the proposal was the result of some well-laid plans. "Lisa's family had a holiday home in Tenerife and would have spent a lot of time holidaying there growing up, so it's always been a really special place to her," Mikey told us. "As a couple, we would visit every year and I knew it was the place I would ultimately ask Lisa to marry me. We headed off to Tenerife in October 2018, and I was scared of losing the ring, so had it hidden in my hand luggage. However, Lisa is one of those really nosy people who loves to watch the X-ray screen at airport security in the hopes of seeing something funny in people’s hand-luggage. Thankfully, I managed to distract Lisa just in time as the security man gave me a knowing smirk as soon as the ring came up on the screen – I didn’t think it would be that clear on the screen!"

"Halfway through our holiday, I suggested we go for an after-dinner walk on the beach. I think at this point Lisa must have been getting suspicious as it was my second attempt to get her down to the beach at night. When the moment finally arrived, I realised that there were no lights in the spot I’d planned but nerves took the better of me so I decided to just get down on one knee and do it – however, I must have made quite a bit of noise as Lisa spun around to catch me thinking I’d fallen over in the dark!! It all ended happily, and Lisa couldn’t stop laughing."

For this pair, their priorities for their wedding changed massively when the pandemic saw restrictions being introduced around the world. "Our priorities changed dramatically as the events of the year unfolded," Lisa told us. "Initially, it was important to us to have a big party with lots of great food and dancing, however as each wedding date got cancelled, our priority shifted to being able to have the opportunity to exchange our vows and become man and wife in front of our closest family. The fact that we were able to have a nice meal out, followed by some drinks with friends was the cherry on the top! There will be plenty of time for singing and dancing in 2022!"

The couple took the hand they were dealt, like many others, and made the most of the restrictions. "Similar to many couples getting married during Covid, this was not our initial wedding plan," Lisa told us. "We were scheduled to get married in front of 160 family and friends in Virginia Park Lodge in July, however, as the date got closer and the pandemic remained, we decided to postpone until late July naively thinking it may all have blown over by then. However, we eventually decided to postpone until 2022 and have the big party then."

But the wedding did go ahead - just not quite as planned. "As we were keen to get married and hopefully try to start our family, we decided to reduce our numbers and have a small Dublin-based wedding ceremony surrounded by our immediate family," Mikey told us. "Unfortunately, Lisa’s sister Clare is working as an NHS doctor in Scotland so she and her husband were unable to join us. After the ceremony, we made our way to the Merrion for a bite to eat followed by a small celebration in the Grayson with our friends!"

Despite all this, the pair safely said their "I dos" and were surrounded by their nearest and dearest as they celebrated in the beautiful surrounds of the Merrion Hotel.

The couple learned a lot from their multiple postponements and have great advice to share with other couples starting the planning process. "Try not to panic and know that everything will work out in the end," Lisa told us. "I am a planner, both by nature and by profession, so when Covid hit, I spent a couple of weeks worrying and re-scheduling things to the next available date. However, when it became clear that we were in this pandemic for the long haul, we decided to postpone our ‘big’ day by two years. However, we didn’t want to put our lives on hold either so we decided to opt for a small legal wedding and hopefully try to start a family. In the end, it all worked out! We had a fantastic day celebrating in August and were delighted to discover we are expecting a baby boy in May 2021. And we still have the big wedding to look forward to when this is all over! While it’s not the order of things we had planned, it has all worked out in the end!"