Wait til you see this cake table!

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As a member of one of Ireland's favourite wedding bands, James, today's Real Wedding groom has seen it allwhen it comes to wedding venues. So, as you can imagine, he wanted his own wedding to be something really special and unique. He, and his lovely wife-to-be Rebecca, had a vision of "a casual, low-key affair, more of a party than a typical wedding, with lots of help from so many of our very talented friends". It took a bit of thinking outside the box for them to find the perfect place to celebrate but when it all came together on one sunny Summer's Day last year, the wedding they created was absolutely unforgettable. Prepare to be inspired to do this 'wedding thing' your way...

Rebecca and James' Fun and Eclectic Dublin City Wedding at The Grand Social by Evers Wedding Photography | onefabday.com

Rebecca and James met through some mutual friends, and although sparks flew both were in relationships at the time. Months later when they were free and single, Rebecca noticed that James's band was playing a gig in London, and she happened to be visiting, "I saw on Facebook that Jim's band, Spring Break, were playing a gig in London on a weekend I was visiting my sister. Despite the gig being, literally, a two hour schlep from my sister's London abode, I dragged her and a couple of friends along and tried to play it casual when we were hanging out with Jim and his bandmates after the show - like it was no big deal, "oh you know.. since we were nearby", yeah right!! The trip back to Hackney at 3am was no fun for my sister but I was grinning from ear to ear after Jim had stolen a little kiss when we said goodbye. He texted me the next day to ask me out once we were both back in Dublin and the grinning hasn't stopped since."

A few years down the line, Rebecca and James decided to escape the January cold and jetted off to Gran Canaria. "James spent the first few days trying to figure out where he could pop the question and then he came up trumps; an open air cinema on the beach showing Casablanca, how romantic! But when we arrived at the cinema we were told they'd had to shut down due to high winds. Plans dashed, he asked me the next night after a gorgeous meal on the terrace of the restaurant and was quick to let me know he had much more romantic plans, it all still felt very lovely to me, once I stopped crying!"

As James works in a wedding band himself, he really wanted a wedding that was somewhere he had never performed before and that didn't feel too overtly wedding-y. To achieve this, Rebecca and James planned a very laid back day of celebrations starting with lunch at Rebecca's Mum's house before hopping on the Luas into their Dublin city centre venue.

After a quick spin on the Luas, with lots of admiring onlookers, Rebecca and James strolled around the city capturing some portraits before the sun set, along with a sneaky pint of Guinness with guests.

Finding the perfect venue for their relaxed evening wedding wasn't easy, but when the idea of a wedding at The Grand Social popped into Rebecca's head she knew it was the one. "We thought long and hard about a venue, we really wanted something very laid back and Jim was adamant he didn't want to have it somewhere he would typically play in his job, as brilliant as many of those places are he didn't want to think about work, understandably! After ruling out a good few places, I had a lightbulb moment one day about The Grand Social. I contacted them straight away and we met with the managers, Elaine and Anthony, they were just so friendly, fantastic and helpful, I knew immediately it was the place for us."

In keeping with the non-wedding wedding theme, Rebecca chose a high street Alice + Olivia dress which she accessorised with a gorgeous pair of bespoke earrings by Irish designer Ana-lee.

The evening ceremony was a romantic affair with twinkling fairy lights, tassle balloons and simple metallic marquee letters. Foregoing tradition, Rebecca's adorable nephew walked her down the aisle, and friends provided the music.

simple florals in jamjar | Rebecca and James' Fun and Eclectic Dublin City Wedding at The Grand Social by Evers Wedding Photography | onefabday.com

With an usual wedding venue choice and lots of fantastic music, the reception had a real party vibe. "The music was the clincher though, we knew people would be expecting great things, and we needn't have worried, Jim and I are incredibly lucky to have ridiculously musically gifted friends who went above and beyond creating a dream band for the night for us, it was a total blast!"

The couple truly are blessed with wonderfully creative friends, another pal of Rebecca's, Leona, who is a food stylist, baked and styled the impressive cake table, with single tiered buttercream cakes and drool-worthy sweet treats. This is the cake table to end all cake tables!

Love these sparkly cake toppers? We have a DIY tutorial to show how make your very own one here.

Huge congratulations James and Rebecca, and thank you for sharing with us all.

A big thank you also goes to Evers Wedding Photography for sharing his work with us, to see more from Evers head over to www.eversweddingphotography.com

The Wedding Details