A Peaky Blinders Inspired Wedding

Real Weddings

“Adam and I are both big lovers of the outdoors and Peaky Blinders. The wedding theme was based solely off Peaky Blinders and how Adam chose his attire.”

 

Names: Lindsey and Adam Greene

Length of engagement: Married July 21st 2018

Wedding Date: Wedding Celebration one year later July 18th 2019

Wedding location: Black Castle, Co. Wicklow, Ireland

Photographer: David McAuley

 

We met… On New Year’s Eve (New Years 2017) between mutual friends. Adam spotted me across the room as I was awkwardly in conversation with another guy and we locked eyes as I made a face to be saved. As we travelled from location to location prior to bringing in the New Year we couldn’t leave each other’s side. When we got to the ballroom, we danced the rest of the night. I couldn’t help but pull his beard (yes beard and a man bun) in close to my face as I gave him a giant kiss (way before the strike of midnight). We fell in love that night. Adam was different than any person I had ever been with (tattoos, beard, long luscious hair) and it was intriguing.

Adam left to go into the military a month later. We wrote letters every week back and forth until we were able to see each other again. I pushed him away because I was afraid of long distance, but we never stopped talking. We connected the following New Years in person, where Adam met my family for the first time. We then decided we would make the relationship official. Adam got stationed in Alaska and I left for Nepal to finish up my last semester in grad school. Following my return from Nepal and graduation from IWU, we separated from our typical Midwestern lives and moved in together up North. We knew we wanted to spend the rest of our lives together and at that time we were struggling to get by so we decided to get together a small group of friends we had met in Alaska and have a little wedding in a po-dunk lodge in the middle of nowhere (Alaska). Everything about that moment was perfect but getting married in front of our family and friends in Ireland made everything ten times more special.

 

 

Our proposal… Adam and I got married before a “true proposal’”. The move to Alaska was challenging for both of us while I waited to start my career. We knew we wanted to be together forever, but we did not have the money to have a big wedding or support ourselves financially on one salary. So we made a big decision to get married in front of a couple of friends in a rustic Alaskan lodge. We told our families, but we kept the marriage private from the rest of our friends. It was a hard secret to keep, so Adam went along with a normal “progression” of typical relationships and still gave me a proposal so I could let friends know we had plans for a later wedding date.

He picked me up from the airport at 2:00am with our dog. Jack had a large red bow tied around his neck. I didn’t pay much attention to the bow because it was around thanksgiving, so I thought Adam was just trying to be seasonal and cute. As I approached him, he asked if I saw anything different about our dog. When I looked down there was a small pouch attached to his collar. Upon opening the pouch, I was surprised by a beautiful “engagement” ring. Everything about the moment was perfect. We had a friend take pictures of us the following week, zero degree weather and in the snow, so we could announce our forever relationship to the rest of our friends and family.

 

 

Our wedding theme/colours… Adam and I are both big lovers of the outdoors and Peaky Blinders. The wedding theme was based solely off Peaky Blinders and how Adam chose his attire. He ordered a tweed suit from a website in England to have it shipped to Alaska. Our colours were olive green, navy blue, crimson red, coyote brown, and burlap. He wanted to dress as close to his heritage as possible and match his “old soul” persona. We knew we wanted our wedding outdoors and we were willing to stand in the pouring rain if we had to. Originally, we planned to hike up a small mountain to have our wedding, but the times and distance did not work out being in a different country trying to plan. When our aunt (who lives in Ireland) told us about the Black Castle, we could not resist. The pictures do not do this place justice. We fell in love with this location because it has views of the country land as well as the Irish Sea, something you could never find in the States.

 

 

Things we DIY’d/made ourselves… Since we travelled from another Country it was very challenging to make things ourselves. My best friend asked if she could put our flowers together for the day of. She did a remarkable job! The colours were perfect. My friend spent the entire day before the wedding putting together the flowers. On the morning of the wedding she went to get them from the fridge, and they had frozen and completely ruined. She put together the entire bouquet in less than 10 minutes and according to sources the second bouquet was even more spectacular than the original. I found out about the chaos after the ceremony. I was so fortunate to have a team of friends and family who made the day perfect without leaving me to worry about a single detail.

 

 

My dress… I found my dress at David’s Bridal. I am not a big “girly” person. A simple dress with an open back is all I wanted. Something I could hike in just in case we did the wedding at the top of a mountain. The dress was very simple. A-line with lace, an open back, showing off my curves, and complimenting Adam’s suit perfectly. Let’s be honest, he out dressed me with his Peaky Blinder’s custom suit but he out dresses me everyday so it fit our styles.

 

 

My hair and make up… My sister in law is a hair dresser for a living. She was kind enough to do my hair and make-up on the day of. She arrived at the house at 7:00am for an early start (while pregnant) and made me the most beautiful bride I could ever hope to be. She put together a simple up-do, which was perfect because the wind was very strong in the afternoon.

 

 

His suit… Peaky Blinders theme. Olive green tweed 3-piece suit and cap with a light brown vest and crimson tie. Of course, he had a pocket watch too! We thought it was going to be cold in Ireland, but it was in the 70’s on the day of the wedding. He was pretty sweaty to say the least.

 

 

What our bridal party wore… We did not have a bridal party. My two brothers walked me down the aisle and Adam’s father performed the ceremony. We had our guests wear specific theme colours in order to pull everything together with the landscape and our outfits. We had our family members (our brother’s and his father) wear the same pants and “driver’s cap” as Adam, with a white designed shirt, and suspenders.

 

 

Our ceremony… Our ceremony took place at the Black Castle. We had a bus pick us up from two separate locations. The girls were picked up first and then Adam was blindfolded when the bus arrived to pick him up. The Black Castle sits on the ledge of the Irish sea. To the one side you can see the countryside with cottage homes and to the other side you look out into the water. The views are remarkable. We fell in love with this location the first day we arrived in Ireland. We had been told about the beauty but we needed to see it for ourselves. We were blown away by the colours.

In the morning we had rain and at times there were dark clouds over us but for the majority of the ceremony, the weather couldn’t have been better. Adam’s father was the “ordained minister” for the ceremony.

 

 

We chose our photographer because… David McAuley. Our aunt originally found David. She sent us his contact information and we reached out. He shared with us some of his previous work and we instantly fell in love. He was very kind and supportive. David took the time to meet up with us when we arrived in Ireland. He met us at our aunt’s to look at where we would have the reception and then we travelled to the Black Castle together to look at the location for the ceremony. He helped us decide the best place to have the ceremony and where we could do photos following. He took time to get to know us and even to get to know our family and friends on the day of. He was very personable and professional. David is very genuine. We are thrilled with the return photos we received. He captures all of the best moments of our special day. We could not be more thankful to have had such an incredible photographer.

 

We chose our venue because… We had our “reception” in our aunt’s backyard. She lives about ten minutes away from Black Castle. Our aunt, Mary Rose was very kind to open her home to us and our guests. The views of the countryside can’t be beaten as well as seeing the Irish sea in the distance. We rented a marquee to protect us from the rain and enjoyed the evening in and out of the marquee dancing the night away.

 

 

Our menu… We ordered our food for the evening from Knight’s catering. We had never tasted the food, nor had our family members who live in the area. We were very skeptical at first, not sure if there would be the right amount or if it would be as “Irish” tasting as we had hoped. We were blown away. The food was “lick the plate clean” good and the staff was very kind and polite. We had navarin lamb and beef with Guinness as our main course. On the side we had white cabbage and apple slaw, quinoa salad, and green beans. For desert we were served with a delightful plate of bailey’s Irish cream cheesecake. If you are ever in Ireland and looking for a good meal, we highly recommend this restaurant/catering company.

 

 

Our honeymoon… Adam and I did not have an “official” honeymoon. Following our week in Ireland we travelled to Holland, Belgium, and Germany. During this time, we travelled and stayed with friends from the Netherlands whom I had met during my stay in Nepal. They opened their home to us and drove us to the different countries while we indulged in the food and beverages. I will say, Belgium has our favourite beer thus far!

 

 

My favourite part of the wedding day… Being in an untraditional location for Americans in Ireland with our friends and family. Ireland has so much of our heritage and it’s a country we planned on visiting together when we were dating.

 

 

My piece of advice for other couples… Enjoy the time leading up to and at the wedding. What we realized is that we have all our most important people together in one place, at one time, for us. There are not many moments in life where everyone can come together in one place. Enjoy it to the fullest.

 

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Wedding venue: Black Castle, County Wicklow, Ireland | Photographer: David McAuley | Dress: David’s Bridal | Suits: Studio Suits | Caterer: Knights Catering; Deirdre Fitzgeralddio