Today we have a very special wedding to present — full of style and handmade details, I am frankly in awe of the creativity that the lovely Trish and Niall put into their wedding. I actually (this confession is going to make me seem like a nut) spotted this wedding first on facebook — on the page of a mutual friend Darren (*waves*) and fell in love with the below pictures and just had to ask to show you all. Hope you love it as much as I do…

Trish and Niall were married in June in Donegal. Both hail from Dublin, but coincidentally each had spent a good deal of their childhoods in Donegal — Trish visiting Tory 5 times a year (!) while Niall never made it there but stayed on the mainland. They got engaged last September on the Island and found Ostan Gweedore the following day, and it was decided — Donegal was to be the setting for their wedding.

Niall & Trish have two great friends Stephen O'Rourke and  Julia R Gallego who did the photography - Stephen took responsibility for Niall and the groom's side of things, while Julia looked after Trish. The results are a really lovely mix of styles and views, not a typical retrospective on a wedding day.

Trish has one of those SuperMums (no danger of my poor Mum doing this) who made her dress which Trish apparently “designed mostly verbally and with loosely scribbled drawings on scraps of paper, which my Mom magically managed to interpret exactly what I was looking for and created it so.  We used the lace from her dress (my something old), deconstructed it into parts and reconstructed it into the bodice of my dress, the fabric and additional trimmings came from Klara silks and A.Rubenesque”

I am frankly in awe of these ladies — Trish’s sister Caron assisted her Mum with the bridesmaid dresses and the flower girl dresses. Meanwhile Trish couldn’t find shoes anywhere but found a top (Wardrobe, in Wicklow Town) she loved so bought a pair of pumps in Topshop and had them covered with the sleeves of the top, using silk ribbons around the ankle. I love the way she achieved her wish and ticked another thing off her list: “I managed to get what had been in my head and couldn't find anywhere and they were my something blue!” Multi-tasking — LOVE IT!!

But wait, what's that sound - it's Trish's sewing machine and it hasn't stopped. Apparently Niall really wanted a lime green narrow tie but they couldn't find one anywhere. Not to be deterred,  Trish bought some silk and made him one, and the 4 ties for the page boys and ushers.  (Setting the bar high there Trish for married life!) Niall's super slick suit came from Topman and shoes from Office. I heart his look so much - definitely winning my personal Most Stylish Groom of 2010 poll so far.

The wedding was a 3 day celebration, starting on Friday with the gathering of the guests and the rehearsal. The ceremony took place on Saturday at Sacred Heart Chapel, Dunlewey (which we featured recently as one of the most beautiful churches in Ireland) and the happy couple were married by a close friend of the family, Fr Eamon Hoey, with music by their good friends, Claire and John.

After the ceremony they moved on to Ostan Gweedore for the reception, Trish explained why they wanted to hold their wedding celebration there: “Its harsh exterior, set against the backdrop of Mount Errigal and with a spectacular view of the Bunbeg Cove right in front, contrasting with its cosy interior; yet slick and slightly eclectic.  I am a textile designer and Niall is an architectural technologist so this hotel really appealed to us both.  Needless to say we had some ideas!”

I just love the styling of this wedding - the fun details, the use of the grey, green, white and black palette throughout the wedding. It's contemporary and elegant, everything is so well thought through so the end result looks beautifully put together not overly styled. The oversized letters are a lovely touch for a gift or dessert table (we're doing a post on those later this week). Believe it or not, Trish made their cake topper herself - they wanted one that reflected them both - Niall's in his mountain climbing gear climbing up the wedding cake to Trish resplendent in her beautiful wedding dress.  Taking that extra time to think about the guest book and paraphernalia makes it so more attractive and fun than the usual pen and bland red leather book. Bravo guys!

So what was the best part?

"It's hard to know what our favorite part of the day was, it could be the weather, which was kindly cooperative... or our first dance (practiced once but mostly improved on the day!)  We danced to Attention Bebe's version of Let's Do it...Let's fall in Love.  Mostly the dancing and probably the relaxing bubble bath that followed the hours of dancing.

But most of all, the highlight was definitely having all our friends and family in one place at one time, we had many people who came from afar (US, Australia, even Brazil) and we really appreciated having them with us."

Congratulations Trish & Niall - I hope you're having a blast on your honeymoon, and thanks a million for sharing your day with us.

This is only a small selection of Trish & Niall's day, there's lots more to see over on Trish & Niall's blog and  Julia Gallego's website where you can also see her lovely jewellery. This wedding was Stephen O'Rourke's first foray into wedding photography, but if you like what you see do have a look at his other fab work and get in touch with him.