Since we started One Fab Day one of the most amazing things for us to learn about and see develop, is the number of couples living abroad who are choosing Ireland as the place to celebrate their wedding day. Some of these couples are Irish coming home, some are not from here but want to […]

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Since we started One Fab Day one of the most amazing things for us to learn about and see develop, is the number of couples living abroad who are choosing Ireland as the place to celebrate their wedding day. Some of these couples are Irish coming home, some are not from here but want to make Ireland their special wedding place, and some are a mixture - one half Irish and one half from a far flung and exotic spot. It's fantastic to see these couple's dreams of an Irish wedding come true and to help a little along the way by providing some inspiration and information (this wedding features a ton of One Fab Day partners) . Today's beautiful real wedding is an inspiration for these great couples - Julie is Irish but Peter is Canadian, and despite making their home in Canada, they chose Ireland for their nuptials, and boy are these nuptials to inspire... You're going to love this wedding I guarantee, and we're delighted Peter, Julie and good friend photographer Cory Dawson, chose to share it with us all today...
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Now, a little word of warning before you delve in, this wedding may just give you the 'fear', this wedding is so detail-filled, thoughtful and personal as to be frankly over-awing but sit back relax and know that as a designer, this was a labour of love for Julie, and something that she and Peter were uniquely positioned to accomplish with the help of Aoife from the Bridal Lounge, so enjoy but don't be scared - she's a professional, this is what she loves to do!

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First things first though, we must know how this whole shebang came about - how did a girl from Carlow meet the Canadian of her dreams... "Peter and I met in Peru on a five day hike to Machu Picchu in April 2009. I like to say our first date was on the top of Machu Picchu. I'm a Carlow native and was just two months in to a year long trip around the world with my best friend Marie-Louise, while Peter, a Canadian, was on a two week solo motorbike trip. After a romance flared at high altitude, followed up by a three week whirlwind in Vancouver, we kept in contact via Skype for the next ten months culminating in Peter's flying to Ireland to meet me on my return from travels confirming my already organised move to Canada to see if we could make a go of our very new relationship."
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It obviously worked out very well indeed, because Peter put in one of the most spectacular efforts I've ever heard of when it came to the proposal (these two are high achievers when it comes to the creativity I tell you...)
"After two years of living together, Peter surprised me by hiring out a restaurant in our local neighbourhood, filling it with actors and specifically coordinated instructions to bring me on an emotional rollercoaster over dinner (one couple got engaged beside us, another couple dramatically broke up, while a loud and boisterous crowd were annoying and made it hard to hear). This ends with Peter standing up and kind of losing it with everyone and telling everyone to leave the restaurant. You can imagine my face! All of a sudden one of my favourite songs Hoppipolla by Sigur Ros is playing at a louder volume than the music was playing before. Everyone started to file out of the restaurant as if what Peter had done was reasonable and the staff were not calling the police, but much to my shock they kind of disappeared....
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...And then Peter was on one knee and my eyes full of tears in shock and disbelief, still trying to grasp what just happened. Sigur Ros were followed by Fake Empire by The National and I manage to stumble out a 'yes'. Then all of our friends started coming into the restaurant! And a great party followed on that Sunday evening. We planned to get married the following August in 2012."

Once the date had been set, the plan had to be set in motion, and Ireland was chosen as the location pretty much immediately, but (as we advise all couples) it was really important, embarking on such a big undertaking as planning a destination wedding, that Peter and Julie were in sync when it came to what they both wanted. Cory-Dawson-Peter-and-Julie-16

Cory-Dawson-Peter-and-Julie-26 Julie explained that their priorities were very much on par and centred around three core objectives (I sound so businessy!): "That we made the day ours; that we were true to ourselves with the theme and the fun; and to make sure our guests ate great food and had lots of entertainment. Music was also a big priority for us. My processional was Close to You by The Carpenters (original written by Burt Bacharach and Hal David), a song I’ve always loved and our Recessional was Good Vibrations by The Beach Boys — classic! Other songs included Salut D'Amour, by Edward Elgar and Come What May, by David Baerwald. One of our readings was the lyrics to the song Dance me To The End of Love by Leonard Cohen."

"I think what was the most amazing and special thing about our entire wedding for Peter and I was how our two families, who had never met before that week (well my parents met Peter’s mum before), got on so incredibly well. Everyone was up for lots of fun and genuinely enjoyed each other’s company. Plenty of good humoured slagging. I have to mention also that our journey in the VW van from church to venue with our close friends Justin (best man and designated driver) and Sandra was really an amazing time — bubbly, balloons and jokes galore!

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People driving by kept honking at us and waving and smiling – think they liked our choice of vehicle 😉 We kept stopping along the way for fun photo ops also, as our photographer and good friend Cory and his wife Sam were driving in tandem with us and I’ve got to say, Ireland has some great photo locations!"
Cory-Dawson-Peter-and-Julie-37 As a designer, the look and feel of the wedding was obviously going to be really important too, as a creative outlet you can't really beat it! "I knew from the beginning that I wanted to have a lot of DIY elements (having soaked in beautiful weddings on blogs such as OFD, 100layercake and Stylemepretty) and being a graphic designer I set about early on coming up with a theme to guide us through the process —French vintage romantic, with Raspberry and Lemon as our main guiding colours (I love raspberries and Peter loves lemons..). Both of us wanted it to also be a fun day for everyone and to feel like we were throwing a very “us” type party." Cory-Dawson-Peter-and-Julie-38

Cory-Dawson-Peter-and-Julie-42 When it came to Peter and I looking (for a venue), he wanted something very different to what you would find in Canada and at first was thinking castles. He wanted our Canadian guests to be carried way out of North American culture and be immersed in an almost fairytale setting that they would never forget. So when I showed him the Village at Lyons (my friend Lisa had gotten married there and on seeing her photos I had looked it up and saw that it was just a stunning property), all thoughts of castles disappeared and it was a complete 'Yes'. The Village at Lyons embodied the character, charm and heritage he was looking for, while also being way more our style. The décor of the venue also really fit well in my head for the feel we wanted to create (the chairs in the dining room sold me!).

Making everything from photo props and pompoms, to cake plates and cake toppers, Peter and Julie really did put their heart, soul and a little bit of sweat (figuratively, not literally!!) into the decor for the reception, with a lot of forward planning and some help on the day from Aoife of the Bridal Lounge. Frames, bottles, linen and lace doilies, books and fabric trim were found at flea markets and second hand shops in Vancouver, with more found by my Aunt Caroline in Northern Ireland. The couple created wedding favours of papier mache hearts full of wildflower seeds and packaged in muslin bags hand stamped with their wedding illustration, which originated in their wedding stationery, all of which was designed by Julie! Cory-Dawson-Peter-and-Julie-63

Cory-Dawson-Peter-and-Julie-68 Ok, ok, so after that extravaganza of DIY delights, I'm guessing you're definitely looking for some top tips from a bride who has been there, done that, in beautiful fashion, so here's Julie and Peter's advice... "Make sure you are true to yourselves and discuss what kind of day will make you both happy and go for it — be that type of venue, number of people you invite, how much or little you want to do yourselves for the event. Listen to advice, but don’t be afraid to disregard it. Everyone wants to see you happy. Accept help as much as you can from people you feel you can rely on. Trawl the wedding blogs, they give great ideas and tips, but know when to stop." Very, very wise words! Cory-Dawson-Peter-and-Julie-71

Because the couple live in Canada, annual leave is way less than what we are used to in Ireland and Julie had to to take two weeks unpaid leave to get married, so they planned a delayed honeymoon, of course that didn’t stop them from having a mini-moon of three days in the beautiful Ritz-Carlton in Ireland (one of our 100 Best Wedding Venues don't you know!) before flying back to Canada. "Our flights back to Vancouver included a connecting flight in Chicago and as we were on our way to get our connecting flight, we spontaneously decided to not get the flight and spend another three nights in Chicago city. Excellent fun, even though the airline temporarily lost our luggage for the three days we were there! We eventually had our proper honeymoon this year at the end of April. We went to China for two weeks. From Machu Picchu to the Great Wall. Amazing."