Rachel & Mark’s Summer Garden Party Wedding

Real Weddings

Wedding Date: June 3, 2011.  It turned out to be the perfect day (with perfect weather!) for this gorgeous summer garden party wedding.
Wedding location: St Patrick’s Church Knockavilla, Co. Cork, followed by reception in Ballinacurra House, Kinsale, Co. Cork.
Photographer: Brian Terry

We met… Through friends on a night out in London in 2002. It was a “less than subtle” set up by our friends Matt and Lucy.

First impressions… He had potential!

Our proposal…

We went for four days skiing in the beautiful setting of Adelboden in the Swiss Alps. Mark went down on one knee and produced a beautiful platinum diamond solitare that he had purchased 6 weeks earlier on business trip to Boston. The scenery (including the ring!) was spectacular. After first removing my ski goggles I of course said yes!

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My favourite part of the wedding day… 

Getting ready in the morning, we were all staying at Ballinacurra house and my hair and make-up people came to the house. As I was getting ready I could hear all the other guests milling around in the grounds of the house getting ready. I even got a few sneaky peeks at the groom out the window as he left in the car to cheers from our guests. This part of the day and the ceremony were very special. If I could one bit again it would definitely be the ceremony.

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My dress… My dress was a custom made Kathy de Stafford design that combined features from two dresses that were available in her shop on Exchequer Street in Dublin. It was perfect for a summer party garden wedding, light and fitting just the right way to keep me cool.

Our ceremony… Was in a beautiful little church in a small parish called Knockavilla Co. Cork.

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Our wedding theme/colours… Our theme was summer garden party wedding. Thankfully the weather cooperated in a way we could not have expected. Our colours were purple and green.

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My piece of advice for other brides…If you can, don’t worry about the cost or the time it takes to do something, or how difficult it is going to be to achieve something. In the build up to the wedding you worry about all these  details but after the event you are glad you put in the effort. It is one day in a whole lifetime so make the absolute most of it.