Travelling from Boston to Galway, Nicole and Dan tied the knot in the gorgeous Glenlo Abbey, throwing a dazzling celebration for their loved ones from all over the globe.
THE COUPLE
Nicole Malone, event manager, and Daniel Spillane, captain for Boston City Cruises.
THEY LIVE
In the south shore of Boston in Weymouth, MA.
THE VENUE
Glenlo Abbey.
PHOTOGRAPHY
Viorica D Photography.
THEY MET
We met while we were both working on the Spirit of Boston in May 2017. Dan was a first mate on the marine operations team and I was the event and restaurant supervisor for the front of the house. It was a really busy summer, each of us spending upwards of 50 hours a week working, so we quickly got to know each other. After a few months, we decided to spend time one-on-one outside of work, and soon we were inseparable.
THE PROPOSAL
After five years together Dan asked me to marry him after a wonderful fall day spent in Boston, MA. We walked around the city visiting some of our favourite spots, including our first date spot, Joe’s Waterfront. We took a ferry ride over to the new hotel and casino north of Boston and under the twinkling lights of the walkway, Dan asked me to marry him.
THE WEDDING ATTIRE
Dan’s suit was custom-made by Indochino. Inside his jacket, he has our names and wedding date.
My dress is from Vow’s Bridal in Watertown, MA, and the designer is Allure Bridal Couture. I also had a full sequin dress for later in the evening for dancing.
THE CEREMONY
Blessed with the most perfect weather, we were able to have a beautiful ceremony in the walled garden of the Glenlo Abbey. Yes Flowers brought our vision together. We believe our grandparents up in heaven must have put in a good word to give us such perfect weather. We were honoured to get married in Ireland where our ancestors were from. Our officiant Áine O’Connor was just amazing at putting together our love story, bringing all our guests to tears. It was important for us to tie in both American and Irish elements into our ceremony. We each wrote our own vows, sharing our love and promises to each other in front of family and close friends.
THE RECEPTION
We had our reception in Glenlo Abbey’s Corrib Room – another spectacular element of the wedding day. Each table was decorated by Yes Flowers’ stunning work, with gold charger plates and emerald green napkins to match the wedding colours. The room had a balcony overlooking the train car and beautiful grounds – another vision brought to life by our amazing team of vendors.
THE ENTERTAINMENT
We wanted to make sure to incorporate a true Irish tradition into our wedding celebration for all of our guests travelling over. We hired Sandy and The Men and Black band and he helped coordinate everything we needed.
Hazel Alexander played the violin for our ceremony. We picked songs from our favourite movies. Dan and the wedding party walked down the aisle to the Jurassic Park theme song, my dad and I walked down to Somewhere Over The Rainbow from The Wizard of Oz, and we exited to Raider’s March from Indiana Jones (into Love Story by Taylor Swift – I’m a huge Taylor Swift fan!).
For the drinks reception, we had Vegas Trad play for our guests, and they all raved about how excellent they were. Then Sandy and The Men in Black brought the house down keeping the dance floor full all night. Featuring dancers from Celtic Dance Fusion, our guests absolutely loved the live Irish dancing. It was such a great way to break up the long night of dancing and bring everyone’s energy right up!
THE DECOR
Glenlo Abbey is so beautiful that we wanted to complement it, not overpower it. We kept our floral colours simple, white and pink roses with greenery; tied in small personal touches, with cocktail napkins featuring photos of our two cats, and custom drink toppers with our names and wedding date; and kept emerald green as our main colour, tying in both green for Ireland but also emerald is the birthstone colour for May, the month we got married.
Our cake was a representation of all our guests travelling from the US to Ireland, with the world map showing the course line from The US to Ireland.
THEIR TOP TIPS
Take time away from the day for just you two! We stepped away after dinner before the band was on and had a private moment in the Residence Bar and got some awesome photos out of it. The day was so busy and it was nice to have one-on-one time together to reflect on the day.
THEY WISH THEY HAD
Because it was a destination wedding we did have friends and family that were not able to attend. We wish we could have had them there. We also wish our loved ones who have passed could have been with us, but we felt love from afar and above.
THEIR BEST MOMENTS
- When we walked in after pictures and all our friends and family from different areas of our lives were having an awesome time together.
- Also, when the Irish dancers made Dan and his best man, his younger brother Brian, join on the dance floor. We had no idea that would happen, and they definitely didn’t know how to Irish dance. They were great sports and gave it their best try!
- My dad and I also did an awesome father/daughter dance – a choreographed routine to a mash-up of some of our favourite songs. We started off with My Girl and ended with Fireball, with classics like Mambo Number 5 mixed in and we brought the house DOWN!
THE FIRST DANCE SONG
I Won’t Give Up by Jason Mraz.
THE CREW
Wedding Planner: Mandy Connor, HummingBird Events & Design. Entertainment: Hazel Alexander, The Men in Black, Vegas Trad and Celtic Dance Fusion. Cake: Simply Divine Cakes by Niall. Flowers: Yes Flowers. Hair: Natalie O’Brien Hair. Make-up: Caroline Coyne Make-up. Videography: Love it Visuals. Officiant:Áine O’Connor. Custom Invitations: The Jess Press. Bridesmaids’ Dresses: Birdy Grey. Man of Honour’s Tux: The Black Tux. Groom’s Tux: Indochino. Wedding Dress: Allure Bridal Couture.
See more photographs from Nicole and Dan’s wedding in the gallery below.
Photography by Viorica D Photography.
Want to see your Real Wedding on IMAGE.ie? Email shayna.healy@image.ie with the subject line ‘Real Wedding’.
