With Spring in full swing Christmas seems a long time ago now but just a couple of months ago, a special couple - Fidelma & Dan were celebrating their very own fab day, at a classically chic celebration in Stephen's Green, which blended elegance and a lot of creativity.

We're absolutely delighted to be able to share this beautiful and inspiring wedding with you courtesy of the lovely Lisa O'Dwyer.

Grafton Street at Christmas time - under the twinkly lights a bride and groom stop for a snap...

Dan & Fidelma were married in the splendour of Newman University Church on St. Stephen's Green - an opulent baroque chapel discreetly hidden behind a very unassuming door.

Dan, the sneaky romantic devil, secretly organised for traditional musicians to sing the old ballad "Peggy Gordan" by Luke Kelly as the entrance song, catching Fidelma completely off-guard as they had chosen an instrumental piece (or so she thought). This song holds a very special place in the hearts of the couple, as although Dan isn't a singer, he sang this song to Fidelma when they met.

Before heading across Stephen's Green for the wedding reception proper, Fidelma and Dan stopped to have their magic moments photographed by Lisa, and Fidelma, for one, thoroughly enjoyed herself...

I really loved having fun taking photos in St.Stephen's Green on a very chilly winters day, especially the twirl on the band stand and the photos around Grafton Street at Christmas time. I felt that Lisa our photographer really captured the Christmassy atmosphere. Random passersby and tourists called out to us and wished us well as we walked through the busy traffic from University Church, through Stephen's Green and around Grafton Street. Can't be bought by Mastercard! One passerby wondered if we were doing a photo shoot for a magazine!

The wedding reception was held in the Stephen's Green Hibernian Club (you may recognise this staircase from our secret Dublin wedding venues post last week). But before heading in for their wedding feast (isn't Dan too cute in his little pink crown?!), they popped down to O'Donoghues on Merrion Row for an aul sing-song...

Walking into O'Donoghue's Pub upstairs with all the guests clapping as we entered, we had the trad musicians entertaining our guests, it was a really great mixer for the two families and friends. We really wanted to share this part of the day with our guests rather than spend too much time away posing for photos. Dan also serenadeed me with the musicians in the pub, while I sat on his knee! It was really lovely... as the words of the song are  "come sit you down upon my knee and tell to me the reason why I am slighted so by thee".

Having grown up on a farm, Fidelma wanted a very special reminder of her country home at their chic city wedding. So she made the place setting board based on a farm theme, complete with furry grass, toy tractor and toy animals. The round circles represented the tables in the room, but also reminiscent of large round bales of hay. I named the tables after outhouses and locations around our home farm. (e.g. milking parlour, the bull pen, machinery shed, sileage pit!). There is seriously no end to this girl's creativity

Dan & Fidelma - A Wedding Handmade With Love

Hearing about Dan and Fidelma's wedding from the lady herself is truly inspiring - the couple are living and breathing handmade wedding inspiration, between them they made a myriad of items for the wedding.

Dan personally hand wrote each invite with sepia ink on a beautiful lace edged cream card and then made all the mass booklets, while Fidelma decorated them with ribbon and a wax seal stamp.

Fidelma baked her own wedding cake, while her bridesmaid made the caketopper and all the marshmallow-based icing. They even included sailing icons on the cake - lighthouse, boat, rope — as the couple met while sailing. (Too Cute!!)

She also made sweet trees with little thank you messages on them, and left them on the tables while the band were playing so that guests had something to nibble at during after dinner drinks.

And her thoughtfulness obviously runs in the family, for her aunt generously provided wicker boxes full of helpful handy items for both bathrooms, which were much appreciated by all guests, and her sister secretly decorated the bridal suitw with Christmassy candles, flowers, bath bombs, champagne and chocolates. A lovely surprise and a great effort much appreciated.

Any Words of Wisdom?

Decide on what parts of the day are important to you and focus on that, the rest is just fluff and others won't notice. We focused on the home made things which were very cheap, but time consuming... but I made time to made them. We saved on lots of things by making them ourselves.

Borrow loads, don't be afraid to ask, people are only delighted to be asked to share their treasured tiara, veil etc. I asked and received, but didn't feel under pressure to use the borrowed items, but it was lovely to have the option to use items.

Our biggest, bestest Congratulations to Fidelma and Dan - your day was so lovely it was a joy to share, and super big thanks for telling us all about it.

And to our lovely Lisa O'Dwyer, the lady with the magic wedding photographer eye - always a pleasure! To see more of Lisa's work make sure to hop on over to see her wedding portfolio - well worth a visit for beautiful pictures like this...

This sparkling sprinkling of stars is actually the chandelier captured beautifully by Lisa O'Dwyer - if you're loving Lisa's photography as much as we are you should hop over to her website where she's running a fun competition to win a free engagement shoot with her!