Emma & Neil

I LOVE, love, love the coastal portraits captured by Jonathan Ryder Photography of our gorgeous Bride & Groom enjoying the east coast of County Antrim sea views. For one it shows off the exquisite back of Bride Emma's stunning Justin Alexander gown and two they look incredibly cool relaxing in their Porsche 356 Speedster wedding car. I want one! After their whistle-stop tour of the sun-drenched Glens their final stop was Limepark. A gorgeous venue which they were able to make their mark on. Bride Emma cleverly crafted all the fabulous table runners and bunting, which look stunning against the cobbled walls & rustic interior. I am honestly blown away by the everything, the views, the car, the fashion, the DIY, oh and the pastel bouquet as well as the incredibly cute flower girls, you just have to come see for yourself.....

The Dress

Emma The Bride: My dress was from Pronuptia in Belfast. I tried on another pretty dress and was a little bit confused, but the lady in the other shop posed this question to me- ' if it was the morning of the wedding which dress would I choose.' The answer was simple and I was already calling the gown from Pronuptia "my dress" so it was then that I knew for sure. I fell in love with my dress, the skirt, the back the beading- a 1920's classic with a modern twist. My amazing friend, Nicole Minogue, did my alterations and my sister, Leann Kenny, bestowed me with my 'something borrowed' - the earrings she also used on her wedding day. I had a few hair trials but my hairdresser Fionnuala Owens from the Gallery in Moira played about with my hair and spurred me on the keep growing it for the big day. I was really happy with how relaxed and romantic the look was. The makeup artist was Rhonda Newton MUA from Ballymoney. I was crying when I seen how incredibly beautiful my sister Natalie Campbell and Nicole looked as my bridesmaids.

The Grooms Fashion

Neil's suit was a beautiful blue Baumler and his shoes were Barkers. I picked the bridesmaids dresses first and made sure they were happy with them and the dusty rose was a timeless match with the blue whilst being quite different from most wedding colour schemes I had seen.

The Venue

We visited Limepark Arts and Cottages in Armoy one wintery evening. As we sat and chatted to Shelley Ward drinking tea, I looked around and thought this is where I am going to get married. We loved the barn, the tealights on the stone walls and the little details like the brass snails on the bathroom taps. This was the perfect place for us as we had got engaged at the glens of Antrim. Myself and Nicole made the bunting and table runners and wrapped lace around some jam jars my mum had been saving for flowers and tealights. We then found the church of St Patrick and St Brigids right by the water at Glenarrif, one now our favourite places. The priest Father Davy was so welcoming and knew he would bring some fun and mischief to our ceremony.

Colour Scheme/Decor

I wanted quite a relaxed style for my wedding as the venue had beautiful long barn tables. The guests were able to mingle so much more freely and it was almost like my own long family table which used to seat all eleven of us. I decided that the colour scheme would be a dusty rose, with creams and sage colours. I seen these colours on a picture One Fab Day which had coloured tabs which I tried to stick to when picking the material for the runners, bunting and ribbons. My friend, artist Clinton Kirkpatrick, designed the image for the invites. We both wanted an image we could keep for years to come and both love old maps with mythical creatures. Clinton was learning how to etch on copper and tour image was the first that he created. The map included our venues and also a sea monster or two so it was quite unique and now have the image framed in our home. P.s this is great for keeping the boredom at bay on a 6 hour bus journey.

Florist

My florist was Victoria Gault. I popped in to her place many times and was able to see quite clearly what to expect. But on the day my expectations were surpassed by the look of the bouquets and the flowers for the tables and pew ends. We went for baby's breath as it is so delicate and works with any colour scheme. My bouquet had roses, eucalyptus, gyp and lisianthus. The night before my wedding my family especially Sinead Campbell and Leann Kenny helped put the flowers in the jars and made the reception room look stunning.

The Wedding Party Fashion

I ordered the bridesmaids dresses from For Her and For Him and also the silk ties, both in dusty rose. I was so happy with the colours and style of the dresses and thought they fitted the venue perfectly. The flower girls dresses were from Next.

Ceremony

We were both so nervous about standing up in front of everyone but when I got into the car which was a lovely 1920/30's black Porsche my cares melted away. It was a very emotional service to begin with as I walked down the aisle to Kath Bloom's 'Come here'. We decided to ask my young flower girls to help with the prayers of the faithful which they were brilliant at. Neils Grandad said a few words which was lovely and the priest embarrassed us both by asking us questions about how we met and how we knew we loved one another.

Entertainment

We asked a friend Leah McConnell to sing at both the church and the Champage Reception. She was amazing as was the music later which had everyone up dancing no matter what age- Bespoke Music Solutions. Our first song was Cat Power- The Sea of Love and the rest of the songs were largely from a list we compiled over a year of being engaged that we thought would get people up dancing and would appeal to all tastes.

Food

We had ice-cream from Tricyle Trading- real ice-cream- rhubarb and custard flavour, who doesn't like ice-cream! Our cake was from Cake by James, Neil and I decided a simple design with buttercream on the outside and a few flowers would fit with the rustic venue. The cake went down a treat as the flavours were hummingbird, lemon drizzle and chocolate.

Photographer

Our photographer was Jonathan Ryder. We met him at Quirky Weddings Alternative Wedding Fair, it is uncommon I think to like every single photograph a photographer shows you, but this was the case. He is a great, great family man and an unbelievable artist in how he sees and captures precious moments. The pictures were whimsical, yet dramatic and not posed, he captured the most perfect day of ours lives in a way that I don't think many others could.