So this is how our it all went........
My bridesmaid and I arrived in BrookLodge the afternoon before after getting nails done, picking up my wedding dress from Mia Elmes (great fun trying to place that flat in a small car packed to the roof), and dropping candle to the florist etc. It was a beautiful day in Dublin which was depressing me since it was not supposed to be the best the following day! It became overcast and started to rain as we drove through Wicklow. The staff were very helpful in assisting me get the huge amount of stuff that came with me into the room and securing away the various bits and bobs we were adding ourselves to the reception. The bridal suite was amazing but I was too jittery to appreciate it initially. After a quick bite in the bar (well, for as much as I could eat.....) we made our way to Glendalough in the wind and rain for our mass rehearsal and met hubbie, his family, my parents and my other bridesmaid there. Fr. Crotty was great to get our nerves settled and ran though everything with us. The rest of my family had arrived at BrookLodge by the time we got back but I wasn’t in the mood for a lot of fuss so just had a glass of bubbly with my bridesmaids in the bridal suite, listened to some music and had an early night, after popping a sleeping tablet! That had me out for the count til about 4.30 am but managed some broken sleep between then and when I got up at 7.30 am.
First port of call was to look out the window, but as the weather forecast on about 5 different websites had predicted, it was dark clouds and raining. Picked at my small breakfast just to have something in my tummy. Hair (Michelle O’Hare) and Make-Up (Ruth Lawlor) arrived between 8.30 and 9. The girls were great to keep us chatting and keep my mind off the weather even though I could see the intermittent rain all morning out the window. One of the wedding coordinators (Orla) checked in to see how I was doing. Our photographer (Daithi Taylor) arrived at 11.30 and got plenty of photos of us getting ready and of my Dad and I when he came in to check on me. He’d told us when we met him a few weeks before to agree our must get shots that he would head to the church around 12 to get photos of the lads before our ceremony at 1pm so to be getting into the dress before then. Hair and make-up must have run on a bit as before I knew it he said he’d be heading off to the church so I started to get a bit worried at about 12.10 when I still hadn’t started with the dress as Mia had advised to allow at least 20 minutes to get dressed with tying up the corset etc. Michelle was a great help to my bridesmaids though to make sure getting the dress on over my head didn’t mess my hair. The instructions Mia had gone though with my bridesmaids a couple of weeks before and written out for them saw me dress in less than 10 minutes. I experienced the first of many perfect and surreal moments that day when as soon as I’d the dress on the sun started streaming in the window and ‘Ten Story Love Song’ by the Stone Roses came on the iPod playlist we’d playing all morning. That had the hairs standing up straight away. Made my way downstairs (the bridal suite has an upstairs!) and finally, after all the months of choosing jewellery, hair pieces, hair and make-up styles and seeing the dress evolve as Mia created it, I saw the complete package. A big shock but thankfully a great one!
Made my way down to the lobby where my parents were waiting, looking fabulous themselves. Our beautiful bouquets had arrived at 11am. I was mad to see them but as the room was quite warm Michelle suggested they would be better kept cool downstairs. They were absolutely fabulous. Loved the bright colours that contrasted with my bridesmaid dresses. I’m not that big into flowers but my favourites are birds of paradise which looked great in my bouquet. The limo (Instyle Wedding Cars) was there as promised by 12.15. I’d planned on leaving around then as I didn’t want to keep everyone at the church too long waiting but things run on as they do and Orla and co. at the hotel told me to take a minute to get a drink of water. They put a pair of waterproof booties on my feet to make sure my shoes didn’t get dirty (thankfully remembering to take them off when I got into the car as I could have been walking up the aisle in them!) and off my bridesmaids, my dad and I went in the limo at around 12.40. The sun was shining brightly with no dark clouds in sight and I spent most of the trip looking out the window stunned at the change in weather, wondering what I’d done to deserve that! From what I heard after, it was a good thing I wasn’t on time since most of our guests where split between coming from Cork and Dublin so people were still arriving at 1pm. I think I got there around 1.15pm with Daithi and our videographer (Kevin from Sure Shot) there to greet me. I had a thing about not wanting a video camera in my face for the mornings preparations so Kevin went straight to the church but I got my bridesmaids fiancé to take a few shots of me when I was just ready, coming down the stairs to my parents etc. so it’s good to have that too and to be able to see them immediately after the big day.
After a minute or two fixing ourselves at the door, the quartet (Apassionata) gave me the nod to see if I was ready and off we went. I walked up the aisle to Bittersweet Symphony. Not a very conventional choice, I know, but when Apassionata sent us their sample CD, that track made my hairs stand up. My hubbie was against it, thinking the lyrics were not wedding appropriate, but since it was just the music as we’d a quartet, no singer, and most importantly as it was my entrance!!, ‘we’ went with it in the end. And I’m so glad! Walking up the aisle was the part of the day I imagined most in the 9 months we spent planning the wedding. Didn’t register many people as I was trying to see hubbie through the sea of faces looking at me. He told me after that my Dad, who’s normally not emotionally, was quite choked up as he said how happy he was to be ‘handing over’ his only daughter to him. My sister died several years ago so I must admit I didn’t think how that tradition would affect him until then. Hubbie said ‘wow’ when he saw me so I took that as a good sign! Fr. Crotty was fantastic. Everyone after commented on how much they enjoyed the ceremony and what great craic he was. It’s not something I’ve ever thought to say to any of my married friends so I was delighted. After I got to the top of the church and he began the mass he asked everyone to introduce themselves to someone across the aisle. Everyone was chatting and laughing behind us and he leaned in to say that would give us a minute to ourselves which was great to have a quick chat about how we were and calm the nerves. The ceremony was beautiful, set to the amazing soundtrack of Apassionata! It’s great the number of non-religious songs you can get away with when a quartet plays it
Although Fr. Crotty was so laidback we probably could have had a rock band! Michelle and Ruth has suggested I get a sandwich before I got dressed but there was no way I would eat anything. I did feel a bit light headed in the church though so if you can manage it at all ladies, eat something before you head to the church if you only have a tiny breakfast like I did. Daithi was great at organising a big group shot outside the church and then sent everyone on their way before we got the family shots. Hubbie’s brothers, my bridesmaids and my hubbie and I then went in the limo to the lakes of Glendalough and then to the Round Tower (mangling into breakfast rolls on the way!). We felt like celebrities with all the tourists waving at us in the limo and asking to take our photo as we were walking around. After the hard work of smiling for the camera was done and we were back in the limo, our driver Jim opened the bubbly and we all had a laugh on the way back to BrookLodge. Got a few more shots in the gardens there before making our way over to BrookHall. Out came the red carpet and Niamh was there to greet us with our bubbly. Everyone looked to be having a great time. The banqueting manager introduced himself and told us to take a few minutes for ourselves while they ushered everyone into the room and took note of special dietary requirements. We went with the Brooklodge BBQ option so when they went into the reception room and saw menus with 4 meats, 5 salads and 5 sauces I heard they thought they had to pick one of each so were delighted to hear they could have as much as they wanted of everything!
Our entrance to the reception hall was lovely and we had ‘Today’ by the Smashing Pumpkins playing. Such a wonderful moment to see all our friends and family there cheering us. We did the speeches before hand - just my hubbie, me and the best man as neither of our Dad’s like public speaking (neither did the two guys either!). I’d kept the fact that I was making a speech under wraps so I could reserve the right to chicken out. I’m so glad I did though. Hubbie was quite nervous about his before we went in but I really didn’t think about it at all before I stood up as there was so much going on. All the speeches were done in 16 minutes according to the gamblers taking bets on the speech duration at some of the tables! Then the staff called each table up one by one to be served from the BBQ out on the decking. It flowed really well and it was great to see people coming in with mountains of food on their plates. The wine had been flowing since our guests were seated so when I checked after if the last tables to be called out felt they had to wait a long time I was told they were too busy drinking to notice any delay! Each table was asked to go out for seconds some time later but I don’t think anyone did. Everyone said they were stuffed! They made room for the assiette of desserts though. I must admit I couldn’t eat a whole lot even though the reason we did the speeches before hand was so the guys could enjoy their meal. I was buzzing with adrenaline and had no appetite so I spent most of the meal going around to all the table to make sure everyone was happy. I always said it was going to be the most expensive meal I ever eat so I was going to enjoy it but food was not a priority. However, what I did eat was amazing and everyone is still raving about the food. Even up to the wedding, when anyone asked where we were having the reception, the first response to BrookLodge is the great reputation it has for food. After dessert we cut the cake (well just the big one!). We had 110 cupcakes in 5 different flavours and one giant cupcake from Johnnies’s Cupcakes. The way they displayed the cakes was fab! Again, I’d no interest in food when the cakes were served during the night but we’d sampled all their flavours before in Liffey Valley. Gorgeous!! Lots of people took cakes home with them as they were still too full from the BBQ to eat any cupcakes. Gorgeous gourmet sandwiches and pizza slices also came out with the cupcakes.
Our band (The Scene) set up while everyone was moved out of the reception room after cutting the cake to get a drink at the bar. I was worried that our first dance song was too long as 4 and a half minutes seemed like a long time for everyone to be staring at the two of us clutching each other on the dance floor. I was half thinking of editing out a few verses to get it down to 2 minutes! When it came to it though it could have been 10 minutes long and I wouldn’t have felt self conscious. It was such a special moment! Then the rock started. We didn’t have any of the waltzes and cheese that we’ve cringed though while watching from our seats from other weddings. We’re both big into our music so we wanted to dance to the type of music we want to listen too. My parents don’t dance anyway so we didn’t see the point of playing music for their taste and hubbie’s family are all cracked so would dance to anything! The crowd loved the band. The dance floor was packed for the night. Everyone was asking who they were as well as complaining that any time they wanted to sit down and take a breather they’d play another stomper of a tune and they’d have to keep dancing. I didn’t leave the floor all night. The band are fantastic musicians and I can’t recommend them enough. They made our night. Again, because we are so picky about our music and wanted to avoid the usual wedding cheese at all costs, we gave a few CD compilations of our favourite rock and indies tunes to the DJ that comes with the band. I’ve heard some DJs can be quite arsey about this, thinking the know what suits a wedding best but for our specific song and genre requests for both the band and DJ, they were so accommodating and couldn’t have done anything different that would have made the night better. We knew what our guests would respond to so they didn’t have to pull out the usual wedding floor fillers.
The staff were great at the end of the night in not hurrying anyone out of the reception room (although no one needed any persuasion to go to the residence bar!) nor stopping any non-hotel guests from staying there. They served til 4am and after lots more chat and laughter everyone bar a few die hards were gone by 5am. The bar staff said they’d drive us in the golf buggy outside to drive us to the main hotel when we were done. For the minute or two walk it wasn’t necessary but I said I might as well end my day as the bride as a proper diva and called the barman to drive us off into the sunrise! I think I slept for about 30 minutes before I was wide awake again with my mind racing with everything we had experienced. So many amazing parts and an absolute dream of a day!
Sorry, I didn’t mean to go on as much as I did but as I started to write so many things I wanted to share came back to me. I’ll finish with a list of people / companies who played such an amazing part in our wonderful day.
Church: St. Kevin’s, Glendalough
Beautiful church set in amazing scenery. The parish secretary could not have been more helpful in getting us organised. The sacristan was brilliant to have everything we needed ready the night before and before, during and after the ceremony. Fr. Crotty was wonderful, so accommodating in the run up to the wedding and gave us an amazing ceremony.
Reception: BrookLodge Well and Spa
I cannot fault the place. Niamh and Orla were fantastic to deal with all the way through. They always made time for us when we popped down the show the place off to relatives before the big day. They offered great suggestions, were very accommodating in many aspects and provided great assurance that our reception was in good hands. One the day itself, Orla was very calming, the banqueting manager (Mannish) was brilliant and all the staff ensured everything ran smoothly and that everyone was happy. The food was perfect and everyone is still talking about it. The bar staff were great craic and the night manager made sure to introduce himself when I was finally off the dance floor and make sure I was OK with everything. I fell in love with BrookLodge as a wedding venue the day we went to view it. It was the first place we looked and nowhere else came close. It is expensive but it was worth every penny in my opinion. I wouldn’t change a thing,
Wedding dress: Mia Elmes
I had an idea in my head of how much wedding dresses cost before I started looking, thinking it was a silly amount to spend on a dress you wear once! I then proceeded to fall in love with a dress that cost three times that. After a week trying to justify how I could blow that amount on a dress I started looking into dress makers. I came across Mia on one of the forums but there was not a whole lot of feedback – only from those who had their dress altered by her, never someone who’s dress she had made. The dress so important for a girl so I was worried about not having much feedback. I met with her and she’s so nice and quoted me such an amazing price I said I’d take a chance. I’m so glad I did. She is an excellent dress designer. She has her own bridal range but I was very specific in the design that I wanted and she gave me exactly that, changing bits along the way as needed without any fuss. I felt like a princess on our wedding day and got (and am still getting) fantastic compliments on my gown. I would not hesitate in recommending her. She did an amazing job and saved me a few grand compared with the real thing!
Photographer: Daithi Taylor
Professional, exceptional and great craic! He took amazing photos and has such a great eye to capture the moment. A beautiful mix of arty shots, fun shots and the group shots to keep the folks happy. Fantastic!!!
Videographer: Sure Shot Productions
Kevin was very unobtrusive throughout the day but captured all the amazing moments. Jennie did a fantastic job of editing it and was very accommodating to provide us with the specific parts of the day we wanted. Here is a link to the highlights http://vimeo.com/30703770 if you want a sample of their handy work. We love it and would highly recommend Sure Shot.
Band: The Scene
Amazing!! The highlight of the wedding for most people and definitely one of ours. The dance floor was packed for the night as they rocked out for hours. We went to see them playing a few pub gigs around Dublin even after we’d booked them as they always put on a great show. Best wedding band we’ve ever seen anyway
Church Music: Apassionata String Quartet
Fantastic musicians. When we heard there sample CD there really was no question we’d go with them. All our guests were raving about the soundtrack to the mass! They made it very special for us.
Hair: Michelle O’Hare
Lovely girl. So friendly and calming. My hair stayed perfect for the day. I was initially thinking of just leaving it down as I always do but she gave me a gentle push to try something a bit more elaborate at my hair trial and I’m so glad. She also gave me great suggestions on hairpieces (from Stacy Hannon) that would fit in perfectly with the hair style and dress.
Make-up: Ruth Lawlor
I’d love to have her on standby every day! She listened to what I wanted and adjusted things until I was happy at my trial and the replicated it perfectly for the wedding day. It lasted til 5am too! I learnt a few things from her too from when I’ve been doing my make-up since!
Flowers: Blossom Hill in Aughrim
Sharon did an amazing job decorating the church so colourfully. I’m not into flowers at all so had no interest initially to be honest. When I look at the photos now though I’m drawn immediately to the beautiful bouquets. She did an amazing job with the contrasting colours, made sure to incorporate my favourite flower (birds of paradise) and offered me great advice on what would and wouldn’t last the day. She was so enthusiastic too to be working on something different and colourful to the stand white roses (to use her words!). She was also the best priced of the florists I met with.
Cake: Johnnies Cupcakes
Yum!! Fabulous icing decorations and overall display too!
Car: Instyle Weddings
We picked a limo as I wanted my bridesmaids with me on the way to the church with my Dad and so we could have the guys and girls with us on the way back to the hotel to have a bit of craic, which it was! Comfie spin to and from the church and our diver Jim was a gentleman and made sure we were OK for everything and even had umbrellas on standby. Thankfully we didn’t need them!
Hiya! I was actually at your wedding so I really want to be the first reply!!! (will PM you shortly with my 'real' identity..... 
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