“He asked me to marry him and because I was completely shocked I replied “why aren’t you at work?!””
The couple: Sinead McEntee and Gerard Orr
Length of engagement: 9 Months | Wedding date: 13th June 2014
Wedding ceremony: St Jude’s Church, Templeogue | Wedding venue: Tulfarris Hotel & Golf Resort, Blessington, Co Wicklow
Photographer: Trish Fitzpatrick, Insight Photography
We met… We both grew up in Templeogue just around the corner from each other, we went to the same school but we didn’t really know each other. In February 2005 we were both out separately with friends in Tramco in Rathmines, there is a bit of debate over who approached who, but I’m pretty sure it was him!
Our proposal…We got engaged in September 2013. Gerard was due to collect me from work one Friday evening, but I got a last minute phone call to say I would have to get the bus home as he had to work late. Needless to say I wasn’t happy that I had to get two buses home in the rain! But when I got home there were candles all over the hall in the shape of an arrow pointing to a heart shape in the sitting room where Gerard was on one knee! He asked me to marry him and because I was completely shocked I replied “why aren’t you at work?!” followed very quickly by a “yes!”
My dress… My dress was a TM Couture dress from Tamem Michael in Ballymount, it was the first shop I went to and the first dress I saw, I loved it straight away and didn’t want to take it off!
Our ceremony… As we grew up in Templeogue, both of us had our christenings, communions and confirmations in St Jude’s Church, so we were never going to get married anywhere else! It was lovely getting married in our own church and my dad’s cousin Fr. Johnnie married us which was very special!
What our bridal party wore… The groomsmen wore the same suit and shoes as Gerard but with a pale pink tie to match the colour scheme. Our page boy wore trousers, waistcoat and shirt from Marks and Spencer and we got a bow tie made for him in the same material as the groomsmen’s ties. The bridesmaids dresses were from the JS collection from House of Fraser.
Our wedding theme/colours… We didn’t really have a theme, I was happy for the bridesmaids to pick their dresses themselves and we didn’t have a colour in mind. My mum was like my 4th bridesmaid because she was giving me away, so it was important for her to match the bridesmaids. The girls picked a navy JS Collection dress from House of Fraser and my Mum wore a pink and white Sonia Pena dress from Nicola Ross boutique in Naas. So our colour scheme became pink and navy. I brought a piece of my mum’s outfit and the bridesmaid dress into Caoimhe in Joy’s Flowers and she sourced beautiful roses to tie it all together.
We chose our photographer because… Trish from Insight Photography was recommended to me by a friend who was bridesmaid at one of her past weddings and I was so thrilled she was available for our wedding date. I couldn’t recommend her highly enough, from the minute she arrived at the house that morning she made everyone feel so relaxed and comfortable. She was so efficient and had all of our group photos taken in no time which meant we could enjoy the drinks reception with our friends. The slide show after dinner was one of the highlights of the whole day for me, and when we arrived back from our honeymoon our photo disc had arrived, it was lovely to come home to the memories of the day!
We chose our venue because… We went to look at Tulfarris Hotel just a few days after we got engaged and we both loved it immediately! It was the first venue we saw and we had it booked within the week! I went to see a couple of other venues just to be sure but none of them came close. The venue was perfect for us, the staff are excellent, the grounds are beautiful and it is such a short distance from Dublin.
Our honeymoon… We went to San Francisco, Las Vegas and Cancun on our honeymoon. We spent four nights in San Francisco, four nights in Vegas and then we were ready for 11 nights of chilling out in Mexico. It was perfect, I could have stayed for another three weeks!
Our menu…
Strips of Cajun Chicken on a bed of Tossed Lettuce with
Roasted Red Peppers and Crisp Garlic Croutons, and a Grain Mustard Dressing
*****
Lemon Sorbet
*****
Irish Sirloin of Beef roasted with Mixed Herbs, on a bed of Champ Mash with Yorkshire Puddings and Châteaux Potatoes, finished with a Red Wine Jus
Or
Baked Fillet of Herb Crusted Cod served with Fresh Dill and White Wine Sauce
*****
Duet of Chocolate Mousse
My favourite part of the wedding day… We loved the whole day from start to finish, I loved getting ready in my mum’s with the girls, and seeing all of our friends and family up dancing all night, it was brilliant. But we both loved the ceremony. I think we were so busy planning the reception we didn’t think we would enjoy the ceremony so much, getting married was definitely our favourite part of the day!
My piece of advice for other brides… Make sure you are happy with your band and photographer, they are so important to the day going smoothly. Both Trish (our photographer) and The Panoramics (our band) made the day, they were brilliant! Don’t get stressed about little details that nobody will notice, just relax and enjoy all your family and friends together enjoying themselves in one room, when will that happen again!
