Dublin bride Edel recommends couples pay attention to the smaller details during their wedding in order to get the most out of their big day.
Edel married her husband at the start of October in her local parish church in Stamullen, followed by a beautiful reception in Trim Castle. She says that allocating small tasks to the wedding party ahead of time is more important than people think.
She advises brides to consider assigning one bridesmaid the task of taking unofficial photos or videos throughout the day so the happy couple can look back on moments they may have missed during the overall reception. She also says make up pitfalls can be avoided with one important step.
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Edel told Dublin Live: “The day really does fly, so take it all in, get a bridesmaid to keep your phone and take photos and little videos throughout the day, it’s amazing to watch it all back the next day and see things from someone else’s view!
And make sure you give a spare lipstick to your partner the night before the wedding so he can keep it in his jacket!”
The couple had a wonderful wedding day complete with Star Wars references for Ian, who is a major fan of the franchise. Here is their love story below.
How did you meet?
My husband is Ian Ryan. No romantic story I’m afraid, we met on Tinder. He had in his bio that he worked in the airport, which is where I worked at the time. I knew he would have to be Garda vetted to work there so I knew he was safe to meet.
How did he propose?
Ian surprised me with two nights away in Powerscourt hotel for my birthday. We checked in, our room wasn’t ready so we dropped our bags and Ian said we should go walk around powerscourt gardens. When we got there and I saw the price it would be for the two of us I told him to leave it. But he was adamant we were going. We walked around for a while, Ian was looking for the Japanese gardens which we eventually found. We walked down some steps and at the bottom there was a quiet little secluded area which Ian thought would make a lovely backdrop for a selfie. So he started to set up his phone to take a timed photo. As he was setting up I was looking around, fixing my hair getting ready for a picture. He said he was ready and next thing he was on his knee! Of course I said yes when I got past the shock and tears! And thanks to his good thinking we have it all recorded! I was 7 months pregnant at the time which made it all even more special!
What was the wedding like?
We had a small enough wedding, 90 adults. All family and our close friends. Our wedding ceremony was in our new parish church in Stamullen, we moved here in 2020 just before our son was born, he was baptised there so we decided we would get married there too. We then had our reception in Trim Castle Hotel. We both fell in love with the views of the castle from the hotel when we were at a wedding there a few years ago. The food was delicious and the staff were always lovely to deal with.
We rented a vintage car and bus from AT&T chauffeurs and I’m so glad we did, it was our little splurge and it was so worth it.
My husband is a huge Star Wars fan so we had great fun trying to incorporate that into the decor at the hotel. I made the table plan and then we had characters on each table instead of table numbers. We had a Star Wars cake topper and all the groomsmen had Star Wars cuff links. It was a lovely way for Ian to put his stamp on the wedding.
It was all exactly what we wanted, good food and drink with our nearest and dearest before we danced the night away!
Describe your wedding dress.
My dress was very simple, plain ivory satin, fitted on top with a V neckline and a big skirt. My mam pointed it out on a mannequin so o tried it on for her. It was the 3rd dress I tried and I knew straight away it was the one. It made me feel like a real like princess.
My bridesmaids had gorgeous plum coloured dresses with a similar neck line to mine and a-line skirt. Perfect colour for autumn.
What advice would you give to upcoming brides? Is there anything you would have done differently?
Relax! I had the most amazing morning getting ready and a huge reason for that was because I was relaxed. I sat back and enjoyed watching everyone get their hair and makeup done and it was just lovely. I had the most amazing hair (Aisling Byrne)and makeup (Holly Fitzsimons) people that made everything run so smoothly so no one had anything to worry or stress about!
Remember there’s really nothing to be nervous about, your about to marry the love of your life, he is all you will see on the day so don’t stress about any of the small things. Those little details that you are worrying about, you won’t even see them on the day.
If I could do it all again I’d make more time to sit down with my family. So much time is taken up between greeting people and taking photos. I wish I had taken a few mins to sit down with my mam and dad and sisters and just had a chat.
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