Some people travel halfway round the world to get married, I know people who've gone to Italy, Croatia, Malta, South Africa and Spain, but believe it or not, others want to actually come to our shores to celebrate the biggest day of their lives. Today's real wedding is that of one such couple: Shannon & Mike, who came all the way from Boston to be married in Galway.
Their intimate wedding was beautifully captured by Mike Patterson, who very kindly allows us to reproduce them here.
After coming over originally in the summer of 2009 to find out the lay of the land (literally), and then this summer they returned with a group of 20 close family and friends, and by all accounts had a fantastic time. See for yourself...
The Field of Dreams
Mike Patterson sure has an eye for a good photo - Shannon & Mike in a perfect field of barley has to be one of our favourite wedding portraits. Ever.
Shannon brought her gorgeous 50s style dress over with her from the States, it's from Priscilla of Boston, and she gave a special mention to Yes! Florist in Galway for her gorgeous bouquet - are they blackberries I spy in there? (Love!)
Shannon is a stunning bride - you can tell there's Irish blood in there for definite, but the polish and perfect smile are definitely American. Mike's expression above is priceless - he looks like he's literally bursting with pride to be with the lovely lady.
We all know how much I love shoes so I'm not going to bore you with how much I adore these wellies and the pretty blue peeptoes - you can guess for yourself.
After an intimate civil ceremony at the Oranmore Ramada Hotel, Martin, their lovely bus driver drove the wedding party to Kinvara where Mike Patterson took the formal wedding pictures in and around Dunguire Castle...
...and even in the Gift Shop!
How could you help but smile?
After the photos in Kinvara, the wedding party returned to Galway to McSwiggans pub where they had a mini-reception, complete with their own waiter (Dave) and barman (Ashley) - well done lads! Ashley even made sure all the guests got safely into taxis home. So McSwiggans got a big thumbs up from Mike and Shannon and comes highly recommended for an intimate wedding party like theirs.
And finally...
This is what I call a picture postcard! If ever there was an advertisement for destination weddings in Ireland - this is it (think I might even drop a line to Failte Ireland). Simply gorgeous.
And a Word from the Beautiful Bride:
"Basically, I loved every second of our wedding in Ireland! I can't say enough nice things about every company, business, and person we worked with to put it together! Everyone was so helpful and so flexible with us planning from across the Atlantic and really, everything turned out better than we could have ever hoped."
Thanks a million Shannon and Mike, for sharing your day with us. A few words from us to you:
"Sliocht sleachta ar shliocht bhur sleachta" - an old Irish saying that means "May your children's children have many children - may your marriage prosper"
And special thanks to Mike Patterson- this wedding was truly exceptional and a great example of Mike's work, and there's more to see over on his blog. Mike is based in Galway, but travels all over Ireland so do check him out if you like what you see...
Special Mentions and Thanks from Shannon and Mike go to
Shannon particularly wanted to make special mention of her sister-in-law Jennifer Ponting Cox who helped organise much of the wedding. She has a wedding planning business in Boston called Esq Events, and after her adventures with Shannon & Mike, is very much available for destination wedding planning in Ireland, so keep her in mind.
For the delicious wedding cake: Goyas Bakery in Galway
For driving the wedding party all over Galway and back with a smile: Costello Bus Hire
For beautiful hairdressing and taking a lot of trouble to coordinate with Jennifer from the US: Zennith Hairdressing
