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Dublin Live

Lifestyle

Amy Donohoe

Dublin bride's wild horror themed wedding with giant green coffin 'altar'

Dublin Nate

Ygraine Hackett-Cantabrana met her partner Oscar at a charity gig that raised money for a hospice.

He asked her to sell cupcakes at it and he ended up buying most of them - she just thought that he really liked desserts, but it was actually Ygraine who he thought was sweet.

They ran into each other again at another charity gig for marriage equality and afterwards Ygraine got a text from a mutual friend telling her that Oscar had his eye on her - so they went on their first date to a gig.

Fast forward five years, Oscar, from Greystones, proposed during the pandemic. The couple took a walk with their son Nate in the forest behind their house. He tried to get Nate to give her a Love Heart sweet that said 'Will You Marry Me' on it but he ate it instead.

But she still said yes and here’s their love story:

Tell us a bit about your relationship.

We met each other at a time when neither of us were looking for or expecting to be getting into another relationship, but after our second or third date I knew it would be the kind of relationship that shakes your whole foundation in a good way. I know it's a cliche but it felt like everything slotted into place and we complement each other perfectly.

We're both creative people who are dreamers at heart. Oscar is more of a logical thinker who genuinely cares for people and is hilariously funny.

I'd be more of an anxious over-thinker so he keeps me grounded a lot. I got pregnant quite early on in our relationship, but unfortunately lost the baby but it was then that we realised we wanted a child together and to be a family of punk rock weirdos, so we had our son the following year.

We've gone through so much together, some really dark times but Oscar has always managed to keep the laughter going.

Tell us a bit about the engagement.

We didn't see the point in having a long engagement, plus the pandemic had taught us you never know what's around the corner so we gave our three months notice and in April of 2021 we went to the registry office and signed the paperwork.

Because Covid restrictions were still in place, after the ceremony we went out onto the beach front at Bray and had a picnic with our closest friends and our family. We were planning on once restrictions had lifted, then we would have our dream wedding.

Tell us all about your wedding and venue.

When it came to our wedding on October 30, 2021, we really didn't want to follow many traditions because neither of us are very traditional. Oscar is a punk rock musician obsessed with Star Wars and video games, and I am a horror fanatic.

I'm a horror film journalist and critic so it was important to me that we held our wedding celebration at Halloween. Because we're so into videography and DIY, we sent out a save the date in the form of a video that was based on the horror movie The Ring. Our wedding invitation was a link to a website which we had named "Night Of The Living Wed".

We booked a local Greystones venue called The Hotspot and basically we just wanted a big Halloween party to celebrate with our friends and family that we hadn't been able to see for nearly two years because of the pandemic. Our decor was spooky, with pumpkins everywhere, cobwebs, and horror movie VHS on the tables, a lot of the stuff was things we already had at home.

We made a lot of things ourselves including our wedding cake and we said our vows in front of a giant green coffin altar that Oscar had built himself. We got one of my friends Alex, who is the amazing drag king Phil T to be our celebrant and we wanted it to be laid back and fun.

Tell us about your wedding dress and bridesmaid dresses

I didn't want a white dress at all, that's just not my style. For the registry office ceremony in April I wore a leopard print 50s style dress and then for the big wedding celebration I wanted something gothic and dramatic. I bought a long wine red gown with a long train and flowy sleeves for less than €50 and had one of my good friends who is a milliner make me a massive dramatic halo crown.

My bridesmaids dresses were black velvet off the shoulder body cons, I wanted my bridesmaids to feel comfortable and also have something that they could wear again. I had a beautiful and again, dramatic, bouquet of dark reds and greens, full of roses and dahlias from the amazing Adonis Flowers and my bridesmaids carried down the aisle lit Jack O Lanterns that we had carved the night before.

What was the best part in the build up to your day?

Because we were basically planning a fun Halloween party, organising it and getting the decorations and then the crafting aspect was the most fun part. I love coming up with wild decor ideas and then figuring out ways to execute them.

It was a lot of fun letting our imaginations run wild. Because we wanted to be as thrifty as possible it was cool seeing what we could come up with from stuff we already had. Another great part was having our friends be so involved in the set up. We'd go Halloween shopping buying decor and then carving the pumpkins the night before.

What was the best moment of your day?

Just getting to celebrate and party with my friends and family. Because we had forgotten the traditional wedding set up, there was no pressure on time management or having a sit down meal etc. We got catering from the local burrito van The Burrito Box, as well as pizzas delivered from another local vendor.

We also had a candy floss, popcorn, hotdog and slushy machine, as well as Trick or Treat sweet bags from Sweet Boutique in Greystones. Food was our biggest expense and probably our main priority. We wanted to make sure our guests were properly fed.

We just had a really fun Halloween party where we danced all night to our favourite music from a DJ that used to DJ at our favourite pop-punk club night.

What would you tell other brides to plan first and what are your top tips?

Do what feels right by you and your partner. Don't worry about tradition or what you think is expected of your wedding day.

If you want an intimate Disney themed wedding with pizza catering, go for it. Bring your individuality and what makes you both unique to your wedding. You want to enjoy your day and remember it, rather than saying: "I didn't get to enjoy my wedding because I was too stressed about making sure it went according to plan"

What were the hardest parts to plan? Did you come across any difficulties?

Because our wedding celebration was on the tail end of the pandemic, there was a lot of uncertainty about whether it would end up going ahead. That was the most anxiety inducing aspect. But because we wanted a relaxed and fun celebration, we were both pretty chilled out about things. We knew it would come together in the end.

How did guests react to your theme?

I was a tiny bit worried people wouldn't like it because I go hard on the horror. Even my vows were horror movie themed. Our cake was a black cake with bleeding skulls on top, with the cake stand being Oscar's drum kit. But everyone loved it. Guests came dressed up in fancy dresses and everyone let loose and enjoyed themselves.

Would you do anything different or wish there was anything you didn't worry about?

Absolutely not, it was perfect. We had an amazing group of friends that were with us all the way who helped out with anything that was giving us anxiety over.

In the end, the wedding was the perfect embodiment of who we are not only as a couple but also as individuals. The only thing I'd change if I had to would be, I would have loved to have had scare actors jumping out and scaring our guests.

The wedding was horror themed (Ray Keogh)

SaveMyDay.ie was launched in 2021 by Dublin based couple Ian Menzies and Shell Holden to showcase unique, amazing and alternative Irish venues available to hire for weddings.

The online platform connects couples with ceremony and party venues that are the right fit for them - whatever their style, their guest size and their budget.

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