Beautiful wedding in Lanzarote, planned by Rocks and Roses.
Names: Eileen Lambe and Mark O’Loughlin
Length of engagement: Wedding Date: 1 year, We got engaged on Eileen’s birthday, August 13th, in Spain, and got married the following July.
Wedding location: Hesperia Hotel, Puerto Calero, Lanzarote | Photographer: Danielle Stack
Wedding Planner: Rocks and Roses Weddings
We met… I was a single Mum who never went out, Mark was a truck driver who worked long hours and was often abroad. We met online!
Our proposal… Mark proposed to me on my birthday in a very fancy golf hotel in Mijas, in Spain. We were staying there after running into difficulty with the accommodation we had booked in Marbella. We had spent most of the previous night with nowhere to go after arriving late from the airport. There was no reception desk and no one answering the phones at Booking.com. We were stranded on the streets in Marbella with all our bags and our little 3 year old girl, asking all hotels for a room but all were full, any that we phoned were full too.
We were finally taken in by a hotel manager (from the Princesa Playa Hotel, Marbella) who took pity on us, and when he had no room to offer us at his hotel, himself and his wife brought us home to their own house and gave us a room for the remainder of the night. This is where we woke up on the morning of my birthday and we managed to book into The Golf and Leisure Hotel in Mijas. Mark had intended proposing on the morning of my birthday but he waited until the stress of finding a hotel was over, and all 3 of us were dressed up to go for my birthday dinner.
Our wedding theme/colours… our wedding colours were grey and pink with splashes of bright colour. The bouquets had bright flowers, including bright yellow and our place names were brightly coloured.
My dress… From Mori Lee. Bought in The Dublin Bridal House in Rathfarnham in Dublin. Sharon, the owner was so great to deal with, gave me great advice and was so helpful.
My shoes … I had 2 pairs of shoes for myself, floral ones were from Kurt Geiger in Kildare Outlet and the sparkly ones which Danielle photographed were by Debut from Debenhams.
My hair and makeup… hair was done by TenaBerretti, A lovely Scottish hairdresser who did my hair above and beyond my expectations. She came to the hotel and did the bridesmaids, flower girls and my Mum’s hair too. Everyone was delighted with her. Make-up artist was Michelle Cottam. Both ladies a delight to have with me on the day.
His suit… Noel Reid Menswear, Old Dundrum Shopping Centre, Dublin. Noel gave great advice on colours and materials for a beach wedding and showed great patience and humour in our indecision over tie colours, but I think we chose excellently in the end!
What our bridal party wore… 3 piece grey suits from Noel Reid Menswear
The bridesmaid dresses were from a website called Light in the box.
Flower girl’s dress by John Rocha at Debenhams.
Hair accessories from Light In The Box
Our ceremony… Was on the grass area at the Hesperia Hotel.
We chose our photographer because… We liked her website, her photographs were quirky and different and taken at nice angles. She chose lovely locations. We made a good choice. She took amazing photos and was so lovely to work with.
We chose our wedding coordinator, Rocks and Roses, because… We chose Lanzarote for our destination based on the locations that Sue worked in, rather than the other way around!! (other people probably choose their location and then find the wedding planner!) We had emailed wedding planners in a few locations including Spain, Italy and Sicily, and the input and detail in Sue’s response to us meant that we picked her! She had a video of herself on her website which meant that we could put a face and a voice to the messages and then we FaceTimed her too. Sue was wonderful from the very first response to the very end.
She understood our demands and we didn’t need to go into too much detail or explanations about why we wanted a late bar, an extra barman, a room for parents near ours, a kids colouring table indoors, extra parasols, etc etc. Sue just got it and had it all sorted for us. She even met up with Mark’s parents to show them around our hotel when they were out on holidays. Nothing was too much trouble for her. On the day she had 2 other wedding co-ordinators helping her, to make sure that everything went like clockwork! I couldn’t recommend Rocks and Roses highly enough.
We chose our venue because… it was one of the locations which Sue worked at and we wanted our wedding on the beach. Our ceremony took place on the grass and our meal took place on the beach, and we danced under the stars, which was magical.
Our menu… We chose a lamb option and hake for the fish dish. There were pizzas and spaghetti bolognese for the children, and a lovely rich chocolate dessert.
Our honeymoon… We stayed in Lanzarote for a 2 week holiday with family and friends instead of an actual honeymoon, but we might do a real honeymoon another time.
My favourite part of the wedding day… One of the most amazing parts of our wedding was the fireworks after the 1st dance. We had only told one or two people about them so we enjoyed the surprise of it. But I think for me, my favourite part was walking down the aisle towards my husband to be, with 134 of our family and friends beaming at me. I could see how happy they all were for both of us, and it was wonderful to see them all there to celebrate with us.
My piece of advice for other couples… would be to choose Rocks and Roses as your wedding planners. The fee was very reasonable and it made our side of the planning so much fun… we just made the decisions and Sue looked after everything. It was a completely stress-free wedding, and I don’t think there are too many brides who can say that!
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Wedding location: Hesperia Hotel, Puerto Calero, Lanzarote | Photographer: Danielle Stack | Hairdresser: Tena Berretti | Make-up artist: Michelle Cottam | Wedding Planner: Rocks and Roses Weddings | Wedding dress: Dublin Bridal House | Groom and Groomsmen’s suits: Noel Reid Menswear |
