Real Weddings: Victoria and Cormac’s ethereal white wedding in Dublin

THE RECEPTION
Afterwards, our reception was also in the Merrion Hotel. We kept our guest list small and invited only our closest friends and family, so we never felt like our wedding had to be anything but exactly how we wanted it. We tried not to get caught up in pleasing others and picked our favourite foods, our own style of music and performers. We chose quality over quantity in all aspects of our day and really treated those we love (and ourselves too!). The staff at the Merrion, especially Susie Hopkins, were amazing and the service was flawless.

THE ENTERTAINMENT
Kavanagh Ensemble played the strings for our ceremony and champagne reception and Suzanne Carla was our evening entertainment. Suzanne sang accompanied by piano, guitar and double bass, delighting everyone with her jazzy, unique style and fantastic voice. She did an impeccable job on our first dance song!

THE DECOR
As The Merrion is part of such a gorgeous, restored Georgian townhouse with high ceilings, chandeliers, and ornate cornicing, we didn’t want to take too much attention away from the beautiful décor. We chose all-white florals, keeping them greenery-free as we wanted an ethereal, intensely white look.

We had candles glowing from every surface to create a soft atmosphere as the sun went down and a scented candle to burn throughout the rooms on the day (Trudon Atria). Every time I smell the candle it takes me right back to that moment when they opened the doors, and I began walking up the aisle. We hope to always keep one of the candles in our home to burn on anniversaries and special occasions and remind us of our wedding day.

THEIR TOP TIPS

• Do your research! As a research librarian, I loved this element of wedding planning. The time spent online looking at lots of different suppliers (at various price points) really gave us a good perspective on what we wanted and the quality to expect for our budget.
• Be careful with your budget. Even when you’re only overspending by a little on each item, it adds up to a huge amount once you combine all the different elements. We tried to choose a few things to splurge on (the dress, the venue, the food and the photographer) and then accepted that some areas would require hard decisions – i.e. we had a very small flower budget (which didn’t matter too much as the venue décor was gorgeous).
• Check your possible wedding dates for sports matches etc. We were about to choose from a few days in October before Googling the date – only to find out that the Rugby World Cup semi, quarter and finals were on. Lots of our guests are huge rugby fans and we didn’t want to have to compete with the match for guests’ attention, so we chose a date after the World Cup had finished.
• Trust your suppliers. If you love their work, you have nothing to worry about! As overthinkers, that was a tricky part for us, but they all did a fabulous job and all that research before making our choices paid off.
• Brides, don’t worry if everything isn’t exactly how you imagined it on your hair and make-up trials. The looks we did on both my hair and make-up trials were not the looks we went for on the wedding day and that is exactly what the trials are for – to tweak and improve. Although I did feel apprehensive not seeing exactly how I would look on my big day in advance, I shouldn’t have worried. Both my hairdresser and make-up artist did an incredible job, and I really did feel my best on the day.