Like most Irish wedding couples these days, Mairead and Neill both come from religious families but didn't want to have a church ceremony for their own wedding. Instead they chose to do things their own way at Cliff at Lyons, organising something very different than either family was used to, but as Mairead explained "It wasn't what they were used to, but we were so lucky that our family and friends were all so supportive of how we wanted our day to be." So if you're contemplating doing things less traditionally this beautiful wedding should allay any fears - captured Candy Stripe Photography it all turned out to be the dream come true that every single guest enjoyed...

Mairead and Neill met aged just 16 through some mutual friends. They enjoyed a classic teenage romance with dates to the cinema and meetups after school. They then went on to university together and later bought their first home. Mairead gushes... We have had our short times apart like many people who get together young but we’re very lucky to have grown up together. It has made us best friends.

On their tenth anniversary, Neill proposed. Mairead remembers... We got engaged at home on our 10 year anniversary and we had planned to go out for dinner and drinks that night. It was very unexpected for me as I got home from work on a Friday evening to find Neil waiting with candles, flowers, champagne and photos of us throughout the years. Neil isn’t one for a fuss and he put so much effort into making it romantic. A lovely relaxed proposal in our first home together. 

Although they're both from religious backgrounds, neither Mairead nor Neill wanted a church ceremony. Mairead explains... We wanted our wedding to be a really relaxed, modern and romantic summer day with good music, food, drinks, and family and friends all in one place. Our colour scheme was rose golds and pastels to reflect this. We didn’t want the traditional church service as that just wasn’t for us. We hoped to get married outside from the minute we started planning but never fully thought we would get to have this in Ireland. Never did we dream we would, in fact, get married in a beautiful garden in 26 degrees! The sunshine made it all come together. 

The sunny outdoor ceremony was held on the grounds of Cliff at Lyons, a venue Mairead and Neill fell in love with after spotting it in the One Fab Day 100 Best Wedding Venue Guide.

Mairead details what made Cliff at Lyons the wedding venue for them... We picked several locations with an outdoor ceremony space that we felt would suit the vision we had. However we also needed an indoor option that we would be (almost) as happy with should we not get the weather, as let's face it, it was more likely to rain on the day than shine. We needed our venue to offer both and The Village had it all - a beautiful garden and a bright conservatory which could be the next best thing. After visiting several places, The Village was the place we could picture ourselves actually getting married and where I could see myself walk up the isle. So we knew. It is also a blank canvas for how you want to decorate it, but because of the stunning location, little decoration was needed. It also has endless options for photographs. The venue is one of the top things all of our guests commented on and we couldn’t have had a more beautiful setting for our big day.

For the occasion, Mairead wore a beautiful fishtail wedding dress and veil from Petticoat Lane, where each of her bridesmaids blue Dessy dresses and her mother's wedding outfit were all also bought.

To compliment his bride and the rose gold and pastel colour scheme of the wedding Neill wore a three-piece suit and dainty pink boutonniere. All the other wedding details were put together with this theme in mind too. Mairead tells us... We did quite a bit of the ceremony and reception details ourselves which let us make it personal. Picture frames, lanterns, a lot of the candle holders for the centrepieces, all collected bit by bit over the 2 years. We tried to have fun doing some DIY projects together, like the chalkboards, which we made ourselves from large frames and painted to make them chalkboards. Neil designed our save-the-dates. Thankfully one of us is artistic!

The day after the wedding Mairead and Neill had a BBQ with family and friends and then jetted off on honeymoon. Mairead makes us jealous with the details... We wanted an adventure after all the hard work of planning so we travelled to LA for 5 days, New Orleans for 3 days and finished with 10 days all inclusive in Cancun to completely relax, eat and drink. 

Huge congratulations to you both and thanks so much for sharing your wedding day with us all! A big thank you also goes to Candy Stripe Photography for sharing her work with us. To see more from Candy Stripe Photography visit www.candystripephotography.com

The Wedding Details 

• Wedding Dress, Veil, Mother of the Bride Outfit & Bridesmaid Dresses: Petticoat Lane
• Shoes: Badgley Mischka from Nordstrom
• Flowers: Donna’s Flowers
• Groom(smen)’s suits: Red Groomswear Belfast
• Accessories: Bride’s Hair comb – BHLDN,  Jewellery – John Rocha
• Cake: The Cake Creator
• Stationery: Invitations – Minted.com; Service Booklets - Lift The Lidd
• Makeup & Hair: Tara MakeUp & HairBy Sarah
• Wedding Bands: The Breakfast Club
• DJ: Funky Functions
• Ceremony/Drinks Reception Music: Rosa Nutty
• Ferrero Roche Love Sign: CM Invitations
• Rings: Lunns
• Honeymoon: Chaka Travel