5If you’ve always wanted to get married next to a proper Irish castle… well wait until you look at this one..
Eilis & Shane got married in The Lodge at Ashford Castle overlooking the lake in Cong Co.Mayo.
We had the pleasure of documenting it and let’s just say, we really didn’t want to leave.
Amazing people, loving family, joy, fun, laugh all that surrounded by splendid gardens, elegant interiors, imaginative cuisine and attentive personal service it was all a part of their wedding day.
Just have a look…
Olga – MrsRedhead
We met 11 years ago at final year in college in UL. Although we’d lived next door to each other the previous year, we only got chatting properly and got together at the ever-so-romantic venue of Trinity Rooms, Limerick! We were pretty inseparable from then onwards for our last year in college and went to San Francisco together with friends that Summer for a J1.
Job opportunities meant we spent the next five years with Shane in Galway and Eilis in Dublin, seeing each other mostly only at weekends. But absence makes the heart grow fonder; we decided we wanted a change of scene so packed up to go traveling together for 5 months around South East Asia and then New Zealand for the Rugby World Cup, settling in Melbourne, Australia afterwards. We had planned on staying only for a couple of years but we fell in love with the city and got some great career experience so a couple soon became almost five years! Nonetheless, we never intended to stay forever and always wanted to return home to Ireland to family and friends and so before our wedding this year, we packed up our bags again to move on to the next chapter – the wedding, some more travels and then settling back home in 2017.
Shane surprised Eilis with a romantic weekend away disguised as a belated birthday present back in 2015. He’d booked a gorgeous, private retreat in a small vineyard down the Mornington Peninsula, a couple of hours from Melbourne. He popped the question while taking an evening stroll on a nearby beach in Point Nepean National Park. Although we’d been together so long, it was still a bit of a surprise…particularly when a wave nearly took us away while Shane was still down on one knee!!
Enjoy the excitement in the build up to the wedding – it’s really such a lovely time!
Don’t sweat the small stuff…it’s easy to get bogged down on little details that most people won’t even notice.
We really enjoyed having Olga as our photographer. She was so easy to deal with from start to finish. Her and Alex blended in perfectly on the day and took some really great, natural photos. They really made everyone feel at ease as they were snapping away! Would highly recommend them?.
-
- We picked our venue without ever seeing it in person prior to securing it! Eilis’ parents lived close by so were really helpful going on reconnaissance missions for us to a few venues and sending on lots of pictures and info. What initially drew us to the Lodge was the beautiful, picturesque setting nestled at the edge of Lough Corrib and the great reputation it had for food. The hotel has a unique, quirky and colourful interior with lots of tastefully decorated suites, as well as rooms. However, what really made the Lodge stand out was how friendly and welcoming the staff were. Being in a different timezone made it hard to touch base and resolve queries quickly with lots of the venues which we were considering but Mairead and later on Jacinta were just so prompt with their replies and always willing to assist.
-
- For us, particularly after being away for a while, we wanted our wedding to be somewhere romantic where Ireland’s natural beauty and history shone through. We also wanted to keep it relaxed, informal and friendly and to enjoy catching up friends and family at home.
-
- When we began planning the wedding, it was important that the ceremony and celebration were personal to us so we really enjoyed planning everything accordingly. It was also important to us for everyone to enjoy the food, setting and celebration. The Lodge provided the perfect backdrop for this with its mix of natural beauty with the lake and forest surrounding it, as well as the rich history within the grounds of Ashford castle that Ireland is so famous for.
-
- mrsredhead photography Ireland Ashford Castle best irish venue
-
- We planned an extended honeymoon traveling around South America for 4 months after the wedding through Argentina, Chile, Bolivia, Peru, Ecuador, Colombia and finishing up in Cuba! Leaving both of our jobs in Melbourne gave us the freedom to enjoy a longer time away. While it isn’t the luxury trip that most honeymoons entail with us staying in hostels along the way, it’s been really exciting to be able to see so much together, meet lots of new people and allow work become a distant memory for a while. We’ll return to Ireland for Christmas 2016 then – our first Christmas home in four years – so we’re really looking forward to that too.
Photography – Olga & Aleksandra – MrsRedhead Photography Ireland
Celebrant – Bridget Carlin
E&S elegant, divine Irish wedding – The Lodge at Ashford Castle
Other suppliers:
• Wedding Dress: Raffaele Ciuca (Melbourne); Designer Maggie Sottero
• Bridesmaids dresses: Dessy – Lela Rose
• Shoes: Kurt Geiger
• Flowers: Geraldine Haire, Cong
• Groom(smen)’s suits: Shane’s suit was tailor made from Oscar Hunt in Melbourne and the groomsmen’s suits were from Hardy Amies, also Melbourne
• Accessories: hairpiece from Etsy – best day bridal and jewellery was newbridge
• Cake: Goyas, Galway
Wedding Favours: Amazon
• Stationery: Till Dawn Dear (Kitty Moss)
• Make Up & Hair: Make up by Triona Lyons (MAC counter BT, Galway) & hair was by Salon 2, Sligo
• Wedding Bands: Simon West Jewellery, Melbourne.
• Ceremony/Reception Music: Capriccio Quartet for ceremony & reception. The Rattleshakes were our wedding band/dj.