Irish Countryside Wedding with Doilies

Kyle and Susan wanted a wedding that was timeless and classic, but also personalized to their own individual style — which is exactly what they were able to achieve! Grace Photography captured the day and the beautiful floral design of Hilltop Flowers, who chose soft and romantic blooms that will be as beautiful tomorrow as they will be 50 years from now.

From the bride, Susan: We planned our wedding in exactly six months and the style we envisioned was traditional with a vintage twist! We wanted it to be timeless and classic but also putting our own individual stamp on it. For example, Kyle had always liked the idea of tails but we teamed it with a tweed waistcoat and tie and brown brogues to make it more his own and something a little bit different.

Flower recipe: For the bridal bouquet, a combination of Sarah Bernhardt peonies with white veronica, pink and white astilbe, pink bouverdia, cream hydrangea, brunia, cinerea, edged with nephrolepis leaf. Flowers used for the rest of the day were lilac statice, pale pink hydrangea, pink and cream eustoma, cream antirrhinum, cinerea, pink and cream bouverdia, pink gyp, pink and cream astilbe, pink, cream and pale blue delphiniums, pink peonies (Sarah Bernhardt), variegated pittosporum and poppy heads. The buckets and crates outside contained large pink hydrangeas.

We always wanted the feel of our wedding day to be relaxed and personal and the importance of the day to be placed on the wedding ceremony more than anything else. That was the most important part of the day for us. My father had been the minister at the Cathedral for the last nine years and it is actually were Kyle and I met and were he proposed. It was a very special day for us. We had a lot of family and friends involved in the day. From my father actually walking me down the aisle and marrying us to my brother singing our first dance. We also used a lot of family photos throughout the day from photo hoops on the pew ends to sweetie jars named after our nieces and nephews and photos of our families around Ballymagravey Village. Ballymagarvey Village’s tag line is make ‘our house your home’ and that is why we chose it. As soon as saw it we knew it was the were our wedding would be – a home from home.

As some of our guests were traveling a distance to the ceremony venue we had elevenses before the service in the church hall. Myself and my bridesmaids as well as Father of the bride set this up the night before. I had made paper doily bunting with twine and paper straw flags for the lemonade in the glass milk bottles. I had also made vintage table runners made out of different Jane Austen books – we also used these for the table in Ballymagarvey Village. I had made photo embroidery hoops and lace embroidery hoops for the church pew ends as we were both the last of a generation in our families to get married we had photos from grandparent, parents and siblings weddings on each pew end. Kyle and I had painted and distressed a vintage wooden ladder and attached our seating plan to the ladder. For place settings we had doilies with each persons named stamped onto them. We also had our own personalised Sharpie markers (Kyle’s pen of choice!) wrapped in either blue or pink gingham tissue along with a little label attached with twine. We also used the book page table runners for each table.

A Multicultural Wedding With Blue And White Hydrangeas

Any advice for couples planning their weddings now? A few of our friends have recently got engaged and Kyle has been giving out advice as an expert in the field now!!! He told them to give away as many jobs on the day as possible and to enjoy it. We were told so many times by so many different people to make sure and to take the time to enjoy the day. Both of us didn’t really understand what that meant until the day arrived itself. It really is the best advice.