Trina & Ciaran’s Wedding, 4th February 2011

As a wedding service provider, it’s always our pleasure to take a small part in the planning of such an important day in a couple’s lives, but when the couple involved are friends, it’s even more special! When Trina called me last year to ask me to help organise the floral decor for her wedding, I was only too delighted.

And so, on a very, very windy stormy day, I met with one of our mutual friends (Sheena) who helped load up the Van and we set off on our way to Donegal – Road Trip!! We collected the cake and cupcakes from Anna at GiggleCakes and poor Sheena carefully held the Sponge layer on her knees for all of the 3.5 hour trip!! Anna provided 3 tiers, chocolate biscuite cake on the bottom, then madeira, then fruit, iced simply in ivory fondant and I then decorated with small fishbowls holding red roses between top and 2nd layer, and placed individual rose blooms around the cake.

Trina decided on the classic Grand Prix Red Rose, tied in a posy and finished with soft italian ruscus foliage with pearls hidden amongst the greenery. The 3 Bridesmaids carried creamy vendella roses with soft foliage throughout and finished with a little bit of diamond sparkle.

Joined in the evening by my friend Louise, we together decorated the ballroom of the Allingham Arms Hotel with silver organza sashes over chair covers, silver candelabra on each table, on a mirror base with white petals and crystals scattered for a final detail. On the two family tables we provided a fishbowl with floating red roses, surrounded by tea lights and individual taper candles. The twinkling fairylight backdrop provided the perfect festive finishing touch.

Braving the storms on Friday, we decorated the beautiful church in Bundoran – 2 Large Pedestal Arrangements, a large trailing unity candle Arrangement with gorgeous personalised Unity Candles provided by Theresa at KellyTDesigns. Along the aisle, we placed wrough Iron Aisle stands decorated with ivy and foliage, and continued the candlelight with lanterns along the aisle. Finally, Bay Trees and Lanterns graced the entrance – although I did worry they might take flight in the wind, luckily they all stayed put although we did loose some of the dressing of the bay trees in the gales!

My last job – the Candy Buffet. This was a lot of fun to put together, especially the “quality control” element – ie. tasting each type of sweet as they went into the jars to make sure they were fit for public consumption!! As you can see in the second image of the table – everything went down “a treat”.

It was 5pm before we changed for the wedding and ran in just ahead of the bride and groom to be seated, the meal was gorgeous and we danced until the small hours!!

Congratulations to my dear friend Trina and her new husband Ciaran,hope you have a wonderful honeymoon and looking forward to the catch up and photos when you are home!!

Filed under: aislestands,candelabra,candelabra hire,candelight,candles,Church Arrangement,church decoration,fairylight backdrop,petals,pew end decoration,Red Wedding,rose,wrough iron candelabra,wrought iron — Tags: aisle stands, allingham arms hotel, bundoran, candelabra, candy buffet, co. donegal, cupcakes, fairylight backdrop, grand prix bouquet, red roses, sweet table, wedding cake — Sinead @ 11:07 am on February 7, 2011

Comments (0)

Romancing the Snow

By the time our first wedding of December arrived, on the 4th, I could categorically tell you what footwear does not work well in the snow – firstly, Ugg boots – not waterproof, and wet sheepskin is not very pleasant, and secondly – riding boots – while they may be warmer and water proof, they have no grip – by the end of December, I officially hate snow!!

Let’s get back to our lovely bride Jennifer who was married on 4th December in AbbeyLeix Church, followed by Reception in the stunning surrounds of Castle Durrow in Co. Laois. Jennifer chose our Candlelight Package to set the scene in for the ceremony – Wrought Iron Aisle stands dressed with Ivy graced the aisle, with dramatic candelabra either side of the alter, and Bay Trees at the front entrance, the glow of candlelight adding a little warmth to a bitterly cold winters day!

Playing on the snowy, wintery theme, Jennifer chose bouquets of white roses, green mini-chrysanthemums and fluffy gypsophilia sprayed silver. The bridesmaids, who wore black satin, carried smaller posies with the same flowers as the Bride, who looked stunning on the day, complete with fur stole as she posed for a photo in the Snug Bar at Castle Durrow. We also bumped into Rhona and Susan again from the Powder Room Girls who did (as usual) a fab job with all the hair and make up.

We also dressed the Candelabra for the reception with lots of fresh ivy. This really complimented the graceful ballroom at Castle Durrow and we had a hairy few moments at the side of the N7, in the snow, in the un-water-proof Uggs gathering some fresh ivy as we ran a little short!!

After all the work was completed, we decided to warm our poor cold, wet feet by the open fire in the Snug Bar at Castle Durrow and ordered a tasty lunch – smoked salmon on brown bread and a big pot of comforting tea, before heading back to Abbeyleix to collect our stands and get back to the workshop to clean up.

Filed under: aislestands,avalanche rose,candelabra,candelabra hire,candelight,candles,Christmas Wedding,Church Arrangement,church decoration,pedestal,pew end decoration — Tags: aisle stands, Candle Stands, castle durrow, Christmas Wedding, pew ends, powder room girls, PRG, silver bouquet, Smoked Salmon, Snow, Ugg Boots — Sinead @ 9:26 am on January 11, 2011

Comments (0)

Marquee Magic in Monaghan

Castle Leslie – the stunning setting for Toni’s romantic Civil Ceremony Wedding on 21st August this year. While Lorraine sat exams (and passed them!!) Sinead and Aoife travelled in the trusty Transit up to Monaghan to set up for the wedding!

When we arrived, the room was laid out so we got to work tying ivory shimmering organza sashes on 180 chairs, we placed the unity arrangement on the table behind the registrar and our 2 Grand Candelabra marked the beginning of the cream-carpet lined aisle for Toni’s grand entrance!

Toni requested our wrought iron Stands with Floral arrangements and we used purple flowers and greenery in keeping with the overall floral theme, 4 were placed along the central aisle, 2 each side of the chairs along the side of the Marquee and 2 at the front of the room.

Toni’s 2 gorgeous Bridesmaids wore elegant tailored deep purple satin dresses and carried posies of white and lavender roses, with deep purple lisianthus accents, white her cute flowergirl wore ivory and carried a mini posy of the same flowers.

Toni looked radiant in her ivory gown with a deep v-neck and elegant A-Line flowing skirts and chapel length veil and carried a large posy of lavender roses, deep purple and white lisianthus, akito roses, purple freesia and heather, with eucalyptus “baby blue” added throughout. The handle for Toni’s bouquet was wrapped with ivory satin and finished with ivory organza and pearl pins.

After the Ceremony was finished and the guests had left the marquee for the drinks reception, we placed the floral arrangements used on the Aisle Stands on the reception tables for their new job as centrepieces! With the hotel providing tall vases, we filled these with purple and white lisianthus and placed on alternate tables creating a “high and low” effect.

We stopped off in Glaslough to get drinks and snacks on our return journey and I have to comment on the delicious 99′s we bought – one of the best we’ve had yet and well earned after a long afternoon of work!

Filed under: aislestands,candelabra,candelabra hire,candelight,Church Arrangement,church decoration,fairylight backdrop,lisianthus,wedding flowers — Tags: aislestands, Castle Leslie, castleleslie, civil ceremony, marquee decoration, marquee weddings, monaghan, purple bouquet, wrou, wrought iron — Sinead @ 5:09 pm on October 19, 2010

Comments (0)

Going Grecian in Marino

A chance meeting with Theresa Kelly of KellyTDesigns (Handmade invites, favours and unity candles) led to the planning and design of Aoife and Gareths’ Wedding in Marino on the 5th June. Theresa, a family friend of Aoifes’ designed the wedding stationery and together with Aoife and Gareth, came up with a Grecian theme for the Big Day. RosieDays were asked to supply the bouquets and decorate the church and we were only too happy to!

When I spoke with Aoife, she had her mind set on something traditional, but a little different, with lots of ivy!! So, with that in mind, I suggested the bridesmaids carry 3 different toned pink roses to compliment the mink grecian style dresses, Aoife requested white roses for her own bouquet so we mixed avalanche and akito roses and gave the bouquet a lush variagated ivy collar with some trailing ivy to reflect the general theme in the decor of the day. The 3 bridesmaids bouquets, one deep pink “Amalia” Rose, one bright pink “Aqua” rose and one pale pink “Barbie” Rose were all finished with ivy collars.

Perhaps the cutest flowergirl ever – Aoife’s Daughter, carried a basket filled with grapes and ivy, and wore an ivy headdress.

St. Vincent De Paul Church in Marino provided the perfect backdrop for the Grecian theme with it’s bright interior and impressive columns reflecting the stands draped with white satin! We hung bunches of grapes and draped natural ivy on the aisle stands, with luxurious white satin drapes on alternate pews.

The Grand Candelabra were filled with lush foliage and grape centrepieces and we added a unity arrangement to show off Theresa’s fab unity candles! Aoife made was a stunning bride and a pleasure to deal with and the Groom didn’t scrub up too bad either!! The weather was absolutely amazing and myself and Lorraine got to take 10 mins outside the sacristy with a cuppa while we waited for the Christenings that were being held that morning to finish! Huge thanks to the wonderful Anne who let us set up the aisle stands and arrangements in the Sacristy while the Christening Ceremonies were being carried out and who fed Lorraine with tea and biscuits during the wedding ceremony.

Filed under: aislestands,avalanche rose,button holes,candelabra,candelabra hire,candelight,Church Arrangement,church decoration,pew end decoration,pink rose bouquet — Tags: aisle stands, flowergirl, grecian themed wedding, headress, ivy, marino church, pink rose bouquets, st. vincent de paul church — Sinead @ 12:18 pm on June 7, 2010

Comments (0)

Show Stoppers!

We recently took part in a wedding fair at the D4 Berkeley Court Hotel on 21st and 22nd May. I got to meet lots of lovely couples planning their wedding and enjoyed meeting Brendan Courtney and Jules Fallon of 1st Options Modelling, along with all the fab fellow wedding suppliers attending over the weekend. Pictured below are Suzie Mahony of Suzie Mahony Designs – fabulous handmade hats and headresses, Pamela Farrell of Farrell & Chase Stationery – gorgeous bespoke Letterpress stationery, Beverly and Sandra from Amazing Cakes (I managed to avoid stealing samples until late on Sunday afternoon!), Caroline & David Moloney of The Finishing Touch – Ireland’s first wedding planning service devoted to same sex marriages and civil ceremonies! Also pictured is a stunning dress, modeled by Irma of 1st Option, A Vera Wang gown retailing at €15,000 but available from Olivia at Discount Designers for €2,900!!! Although I have no pictures, I also met the lovely Aoife of Fifibelle shoes who specialise in shoes for larger shoe sizes!

Lorraine and I prepared for the wedding fair on the day before (Friday) as Lorraine (lucky girl) was heading off on her Summer Holiday on the 22nd, we decided to create 6 Bouquets for our stand, keeping things nice and simple, bouquets that we know brides will choose over and over again..a pomander of roses and we displayed 2 Grand Candelabra, 2 Aisle Stands and created a fab unity arrangement featuring sample personalised unity candles, now available at RosieDays. We also brought along one of our FairyLight Backdrops, now available for hire at RosieDays.

The first bouquet above is a handtied posy of double white crystal blush calla lillies with scented purple freesia, it was one of the most popular bouquets on the stand over the 2 days! The 2nd bouquet above is a handtied teardrop bouquet using avalanche roses, white bouvardia and crystal blush calla lillies, italian soft ruscus and fatsia leaves and finished with ivory organza on the stems.

The bouquets above are the ever-faithful bouquet of White Roses, simple finished with soft greenery and diamonte detail, and a slightly more quirky combination of GrandPrix Red Roses and deep purple lisianthus.

The last 2 bouquets are pictured above. On the left, my favourite of the show, a feast for the senses! Handtied bouquet of lavender, lisianthus, freesia, agapanthus and purple roses, with sage, rosemary and lavender foliage creating the most heavenly scent! Finished with deep grey satin ribbon handle. Finally, on the left, another very popular bridal bouquet, simple, elegant, timeless deep red roses, with a ruscus collar and finished with black satin and organza handle and matching bow.