Interview with our favorite Irish bride, Ciara:
How did you meet? We are from the same town, with Patsy’s aunt living next door to me. We knew one another growing up – Patsy was a friend of my brothers but it wasn’t until we were 16 when we grew close. We were both at a formal (prom) and he asked me to dance, from that day on there was flirtation here and there, until he just came out and said “I really like you” and we have been together ever since!
What attracted you most to your husband? Definitely his smile! He has one of the nicest smiles I have ever seen! He never cared about following the crowd so he sort of stood out to me, he hasn’t changed a bit since – if Patsy believes in something he sticks to it and he is so honest – I love that about him.
How did he propose? We live in New York and planned a day trip to the City, which we normally do in the Winter. We planned to go to the cinema to watch a movie (can’t remember which one) but we missed it and saw something else instead. Then we were supposed to go ice skating at Bryant Park, but it was like a two hour wait, so we were heading home. We were at the corner of 42nd St and 5th Ave when I said “let’s go for a walk down to Central Park”, but half way down we saw Rockefeller Center wasn’t busy, so we ended up ice skating there. When we finished we were walking up the center (and this is no exaggeration) there was not another person there – which is very strange for NYC! Patsy mentioned something about the Lego store and I looked over, and when I turned back he was down on one knee. I was so surprised.. I did think that day that it would be lovely if it happened, but because he was just going with the flow and things weren’t exactly planned, I never thought it was actually going to happen. What’s funny is that Rockefeller Center is my favorite spot in the City, and a few years previous I had said to him if we are to get engaged, let it be there!
What inspired the vision for your wedding? Family – especially our nieces and nephews. We moved to New York five years ago and in that time between both families, there was nine new children born along with the two nephews we already had, so it was a big deal for us to have a huge family holiday. Orlando was the perfect place to do this. The colors were easy because I love purple uplighting and knew I wanted draping in the marquee. So it was easy to keep everything white and up lighting do its work.
Tell us about finding your venue: April from The Dtales found us The Ever After Estate which was perfect for what we were looking for, somewhere cool for the kids but we could also party until late which is hard to get in a hotel.
What was your biggest planning challenge? The fact that everything had to be chosen from scratch which we didn’t expect. From simple things like what walls you wanted to what carpet? Never in a million years did we think we would have to choose that stuff but obviously we had to so it was little time consuming and with us being in New York it was little bit difficult also.
What was your favorite design element of your wedding? The draping of the tent! It was so elegant and pretty and along with the color scheme. Patsy loved the layout as he was able to design it himself.
Did you have any DIY details? Yes. There were a few but not the typical DIY things.. Patsy and his groomsman Kevin were up hanging three chandeliers at 10pm the night before the wedding. Patsy and I made directional signs – we hated that..I always start things get bored and never finish them so he was there to really do them while I watched until he cut himself badly and it ended up with me finishing them. Needless to say they definitely weren’t perfect but it’s a funny memory.
What was the most memorable moment of your wedding day? Well there are quite a few!lol! There’s three competing moments:
My dad losing the keys to the car that we were taking to the church – at the time is was truly awful and I wanted to kill him but thinking about it now just a few weeks later it’s already making me laugh because anyone that knows my family would say that could only happen to us. This lead to the second which was just the moment I saw Patsy walking up the aisle..I felt so stressed arriving at the church but as soon as I saw his face, I forgot all about it and felt such relief – I knew he would laugh at what had happened so I knew I should too.
Or…
The moment we saw the marquee and the DJ played our first song with just us there..Patsy doesn’t like to be in the spotlight but because no one was there watching he could relax and we could enjoy the moment with just us two together.
Describe your cake: I was very lucky to have my mam make our cake. We had many disagreements about the design because she is very good at what she does so she wanted to make something elaborate while I wanted to have something more simple, so thanks to Pinterest we found a happy medium and the outcome was fantastic! She is so talented and put a lot of hard work into it. It tasted amazing and I couldn’t have asked for any better.
How was your experience with your photographer: One word – AMAZING!!! They truly were a pleasure to work with. A lot of our family and friends commented how great they were at not being noticed and not in our faces the whole day but also at how friendly they were. We dealt with a lot of different vendors while planning our wedding but Sara and Jason were one of a favorites! We actually had them booked before anything else for our wedding because we were so confident that they could capture our day the way we wanted.
What’s next for you and your husband as a couple? Just to enjoy married life and enjoy the first year by relaxing and traveling more.
Can you please list your vendors:
Planner: The Dtales
Ceremony: Corpus Christi Catholic Church, Celebration
Reception: The Ever After Estate, Clermont Fl
Flowers: Atmospheres Floral and Decor
Catering: Creations Catering and Events
Chairs, Tables and Marquee: Orlando Wedding and Party Rentals
DJ/Uplighting: Al Dee Productions
Hair: Hair by Kels – Kelsie Boyle
Make up: Faces by Shannon
Video: Voila Cinematic
Stationary:
Invitations: Susan Cunningham Personalised Wedding Stationary
Save the Date: Natty Michelle Paperie