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REAL WEDDINGS by Karen Louise

In a Secret Garden in Kildare - Neasa &Gerard's September Wedding

So we promised you a week of wedding treats - a  real variety of styles from all over Irelandand after yesterday's contemporary Dublin city chic wedding, today we have the lovely indiansummer wedding of Neasa and Gerard, who were married in the gardens of the Steam

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Museum at Straffan, Co. Kildare. Eschewing the formal dinner reception, Neasa andGerard opted for a simple garden ceremony and a cricket tea to celebrate with lots of friendsand family involved in making it one very beautiful day...

 

Neasa and Gerard's romance stretches back all the way through the mists of time..."We werein playschool together although love didn’t blossom there.  Gerard’s best man (and cousin)John, was a good friend of mine in secondary school and I got to know him through John. We started going out together when we were 16 and have been together ever since, thetraditional childhood sweethearts! In 2002 we moved to New Zealand for a year to travel andenjoy life.  We both fell for the place and didn’t want to leave.  We came home but onlystayed for a year before returning to NZ for 6 more.  We became New Zealand residents,Gerard completed his PhD in Victoria University, Wellington and we had our two beautifuldaughters there.  We came back to Ireland in August 2010."

So after being so long together how did Gerard finally get up the gumption to pop thequestion?  "A couple of weeks after we had our second baby, Gerard completed andsubmitted his PhD.  He then asked me out on our first post-baby date to celebrate — or so Ithought. The weather was terrible, lashing rain and high wind (not unusual in Wellington) butGerard drove to the viewing platform at the top of the Botanic Gardens, I thought he had lostit when he stopped — I certainly had no interest in eating at the restaurant up there, but hehopped out and grabbed an umbrella....

...We wandered over to the platform; the view was beautiful even in the rain, and next thing Iknew he was down on one knee with a (gorgeous) ring in his hand.  I was totally shocked anddelighted.  Just as I happily accepted his proposal the Cable Car came to its final stopcomplete with clanging bells and lots of passengers; we received claps and congratulationsfrom them, we were mortified but happy."

"I was a somewhat reluctant bride — I had no doubts about wanting to marry Gerard but Iwasn't too eager to start organising an actual wedding.  Eventually a couple of my friends(Kate and Aoife ) staged an ‘intervention’, they arrived to the house with wine and a ‘moodboard’ with ideas, pictures, press cuttings and information and made me sit down for a coupleof hours to just talk about what we wanted.  They suggested contacting the owners of theSteam Museum to see if they would be willing to host the event.  We arranged a meeting withMrs Guinness to view the Gardens, the Museum and Courtyard and we totally fell in love withit.  It helped that the girls were enchanted too.

How cute is little Edie as a flower girl? In her straw bag she has the confetti that Neasa'ssister worked very hard on..."my sister Elaine and her daughters Hope and Holly made ricepaper confetti using flower shaped paper punches — I don’t think they had any idea howmuch work was involved and I know there were a few sore fingers and thumbs in Bettystownin the week before the wedding.  We topped the baskets up with rose petals too which wasjust as well, Edie decided the rice paper was very tasty so ate lots of it during the ceremony."

"We wanted the wedding to be a celebration of love, laughter, friendship and family.  Wewanted to have a reasonably traditional ceremony but wanted it to speak to us as a coupleand as a family so we chose a Humanist Celebrant — Emma Sides to officiate and thenwrote most the ceremony ourselves.

The ceremony was absolutely magical. Ursula sang at the ceremony and during theafternoon, she is a dear friend of mine and very talented singer.  She was accompanied bymy brother-in-law Bryan on Double Bass and their friend Phil on guitar.   It was amazinglistening to the Blues, in the sunshine in Ireland at the end of September. Gerard’ssister Nichola has an amazing voice and as she sang Pokarekare Ana, a traditional Maorilove song that means a lot to us, with ‘help’ from our daughter Ruth, I was able look aroundand see all the people there to share our day with us, wishing us nothing but love andlaughter for the years ahead.  

 

 

I don't think I've seen a more beautifully natural garden scene for a wedding it all seems soperfectly in tune with the bridal party, apparently this wasn't a plan but like all great events,just came together..."The colour theme came about by chance — Kathy (my bridesmaid)chose her dress three weeks before the day, I had the girls dresses already picked so thenwe pretended we had a theme — Aubergine and dusky pink, it was only after that we realisedthat herbaceous borders in the walled garden where we were having the ceremony were infull bloom in those colours.  Serendipity or fluke?  Who knows?  Ursula Connolly, my verygood (and talented) friend and singer is also interior designer, she searched through hersample books for fabric in the right colour theme and made beautiful bunting as a surprise forme"

"Weddings that we attended in New Zealand were always outdoor events with a casual,friendly atmosphere so we decided to try and pull that off over here.  We had pickedSeptember as the date so we knew we were taking a risk with the ‘outdoor’ part but in theend it worked out beautifully — despite the concerns of our wonderful caterer Neil Shirt, Ithink I caused him to lose a few hairs and a couple of nights sleep by resisting having an‘indoor option just in case’."

"We decided long before that we did not want a sit down meal so opted for very high classcanapes and hors d'oeuvres to be served by waiting staff for the entire afternoon.  I contactedseveral local catering companies but honestly, Neil Shirt was the only one who seemed tounderstand what I was looking for.  He is a consummate professional and a very niceguy! The food was fantastic and really added to everyone's enjoyment."

And while Neil Shirt did a super job on the savouries, the sweets were provided by the ladiesof Neasa & Gerard's family - Neasa explained "there is a New Zealand tradition of ‘Ladiesbring a plate’ for parties etc and I thought it might be a nice way for us to enjoy some of ourfavourite cakes/biscuits and treats by our family and friends so our dessert table was broughtby our guests.  It worked out really well and it was a real joy watching everyone tasting thesweet treats brought on the day.  Unfortunately I was too busy talking to get to tasteeverything.  I may have to ask them all to do it every year for our anniversary."

A fingerprint guest book? How we love them! And as for the cuteness of the cake topper, wellthis isn't just for show... "Gerard and myself have played Scrabble against each otherhundreds of times over the last 20 years and I am embarrassed to say that I have onlybeaten him twice.  When I saw the beautiful cake toppers by thequirkycorncrib on etsy.com Icouldn’t resist them.  Gerard was concerned about the desecration of the scrabble tiles but Ifobbed him off telling him ‘no tiles were harmed in the making of this cake topper’."

So what advice do this break-the-mould couple give to brides and grooms planning theirday? You don’t have to 'do' anything.  Choose the things that are important to both of you,together or as individuals and do those things.  Make sure that it’s your best day ofbeing you, not some other woman in an unachievable image of a wedding. (Oh and askKathy to be your bridesmaid… she’ll make it all work!)

And I think that Neasa and Gerard's wedding proves you can and should have a wedding thatis exactly how you like, cherrypicking whatever traditions you suit you, and adding inwhatever elements that will make it a perfect reflection of your relationship and life together.

Huge thanks to Neasa for sharing the day with us - very much appreciated.

And to Emma of Ebony and Pearl - many thanks for sharing your lovely images with us.

And the final word of thanks is from Neasa herself... "NONE of this would have cometogether without the support and work by my best friend and bridesmaid (Bridezookie to myBridezilla) Kathy Tynan.  Her experience in Public Relations and event management waspriceless and it meant that on the day I was able to relax — I have been called a control freakin the past — because I knew she had pulled everything together and arranged for others tohelp out with things I didn’t even think of.  We owe her big time! "

All the Wedding DetailsCeremony & Reception: The Steam Museum & Lodge Park Walled Garden, Straffan, Co.Kildare.

‘Afters’ reception: North Kildare Cricket Club, Kilcock.

Photography: Emma from Ebony and Pearl

Celebrant: Emma Sides from the Humanist Association

Wedding Dress: Debenhams

Bridesmaid dress: House of Fraser

Shoes: Vivienne Westwood in Cinders @ Clerys

Flowers: the flower market in Dublin, then Nicky (friend from NZ) and Mum worked theirmagic)

Groom(smen)’s suits: Hired from Debenhams 

Accessories: Bernard John Jewellers

Wedding rings: Byrnes Jewellery, St Anne Street

Cake: my very talented Mum made and decorated the cake

Catering: Neil Shirt

Afters catering: ‘Cricket Tea’ by Twist, Maynooth

Party tents: Aerobounce Ltd

Scrabble Cake Topper:  Thequirkycorncrib on Etsy

Fingerprint Tree Guest book: Bleudetoi on Etsy

Charms:  CharmsMaker on Etsy

Invitations & Thank you cards: Adrian Kilkenny 

Make up: Gill Kennedy — good friend and very talented, new make-up artist

Hair: Maria at OB1 Hairdressers in Maynooth

 

 

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