The couple: Isobelle Kelly & Edward Nealon
Length of engagement: 6 months | Wedding Date: 1st June 2013
Wedding venue: Liss Ard Estate, Skibbereen, Co. Cork
Photographer: DKPHOTO
See Part 1 of Isobelle and Edward’s gorgeous Great Gatsby style wedding here!
Our wedding theme… We both love dressing up for a party or a festival so we thought it would be fun to create a vintage festival themed wedding! In order to achieve this, we had to manage everything ourselves – from the marquee hire, equipment hire, stage/dancefloor set-up, satellite kitchen, outdoor lighting, flowers, table decor, signs, bar, photo-booth , hot-tubs – the list was endless. We had to get really creative to ensure the budget didn’t get out of control all together!
Our decor… Eddie’s Mam collected jam-jars and used paper doilies with string to decorate them for our wild flowers. We borrowed two wooden trunks from family friends and filled them full of flowers to make entrance features for the marquee. We sourced three used brandy barrels in Beal na Bláth and my brother built pipes connecting them to a wood-burning stove for our hot-tub idea. He also made the photobooth using scrap plywood, a mirror frame and some cheap wallpaper! Eddies brother and girlfriend made stencils and collected bits of stray wood and twigs and sticks to make the signs. We borrowed a dancefloor from local musicians, and festoon lighting from the local Christmas tree decorations box….Needless to say, this was a big undertaking but with the help and support of our amazing family, friends and people in the local community, our vision was well and truly realised! The day itself couldn’t have been more magical for us – we wanted a colourful party and to be honest, the guests did most of the work there for us! Everyone looked fantastic and really went to such effort to dress to the theme – it created such a lovely relaxed atmosphere.
We chose our photographer because… I loved DKPHOTO’s selection of work on his website which included a mix of everything from detail to portrait and most importantly for us his reportage style using vibrant colour. Following a conversation with a wedding planner, I was sure he was the right choice when she highly recommended him as an up and coming wedding photographer who was attracting a lot of attention in the wedding planning world!
Our menu… We were absolutely delighted with Eunice Power as our choice of caterer and the Queens of Neon as our service staff for the day. We decided on a casual style dining approach by serving the food on large oyster trays into the middle of the barn-yard style table setup – all of our guests got to taste the choices the menu had to offer. The crab on helvic brown bread went down a treat as did the butterfly lamb. We wanted to create movement and encourage a more sociable dessert experience so Eunice helped us with our vision for a high-tea style, vintage dessert table. The table consisted of macaroons, brownies, meringues, berry compotes and lots of cream for people to smather over whatever they fancied! We had an additional cheese board and the most wonderful chocolate biscuit wedding cake covered in lots of different coloured hearts made by one of our friends aptly named LOL (Lots of Love) Cake – thanks Jane!! We also had our very own Barrista Boy – Shane Kelleher who served rich Badger and Dodo (based in Fermoy) coffee from his van outside the marquee – our guests could grab a little china cup, have it filled while munching on a macaroon or two and enjoy the summers evening!
We chose our wedding coordinator because… As we were doing everything ourselves, there were a lot of moving parts. I was advised by a friend who had recently married, to hire a co-ordinator for the day, who would ensure that everything ran seamlessly. I first met Linda at a Vintage Wedding Fair in Cork and she was offering a great deal for her services. I found her really easy to chat with and she immediately understood what we were trying to do! She was excellent on the day and covered every little and large detail with the suppliers and vendors making it a stress-free day for the wedding party and their families – maybe not for Linda though!
Our honeymoon… As we both love to travel, we decided to backpack around Indonesia for the month of July. We did lots of diving on a live-aboard boat in the Komodo Islands near Flores, climbed Mount Rinjani in Lombok, island hopped and beach bummed on the Gili-Islands and finally relaxed for a few days in a proper honeymoon hotel in Ubud, Bali! A truly relaxing month – maybe not the mountain climbing bit for me though!
My piece of advice for other brides… Delegate! Don’t try to do everything yourself! It makes it really special when your day has not only your own touches but those of your wedding guests too as it makes them feel part of the whole celebration – plus it takes a whole lot of stress out of the equation!
Our Vendors
Venue – Liss Ard Estate
Photographer – DKPHOTO
Videographer – Dermot O’ Sullivan
Marquee – LPM Bohemia
Caterer – Eunice Power
Cheese Board – Gubeen Cheese
Wedding Cake – Jane Ferry
Cater Hire – Betcon
Vintage China Hire – Me Auld China
Dress – Que-Va Designs
Headpiece – Knightsbridge, Jenny Packham
Jewellery – Azure, Cork
Bridesmaids Dresses – Shutterbug
Groom – Harlequin & Brooks Brothers
Groomsmen – Harlequin, Brooks Brothers & Sean Murray
Casino Entertainment – Events Dimensions
Stationery – Etsy
Shoes – Miu Miu
Chairs – Greenwood Chairs
Make-up and Hair – Rosa-O
Ceremony Music and Drinks Reception – Elvis
Band – Saxy Lady Boys
Reception Music – Billy Cummings
Fiddle/Guitar Players – Les Guimauves
Serving Staff – Queens of Neon
