A couple who married in Northern Ireland has given us an insight into their romantic and traditional big day which took place in Co Down.
Ciara McCafferty, 32, from Belfast married Scottish native, Michael Cabrelli, 32, in April 2022, having met each other on dating app Tinder, six years before in Edinburgh, where they both live.
After getting engaged on the beach at North Berwick, the pair tied the knot at Ciara’s family church in Carryduff followed by a reception at the stunning Slieve Donard Hotel.
Read more: Fermanagh spot in top 10 places for dinner or drinks with a view
Here they tell us all about their big day and offer advice to future couples on planning their special day.
Tell us all about your wedding day...
Our wedding day was a beautiful April day the week after Easter 2022. Planning our wedding for April we knew that the weather could be rain, sun, hail, snow or a combination of all four – we ended up getting extremely lucky though with a beautiful sunny day. The blue sky ended up being Ciara’s something blue! It was a bit windy and the Bride’s veil blew off just as she was about to enter the church, luckily the bridesmaid’s were adjusting it at the time and caught it before it blew away. While we live in Edinburgh we always knew we would get married back in Co. Down and there was only one venue on our list, the stunning Slieve Donard Hotel.
How did you begin planning your wedding? What did you start with?
First, we decided on two possible dates, one in the Spring and one in the Autumn to give us some options. We got engaged during August 2020 so wanted to plan for our wedding to be at least 18 months away to give us a chance to save up and also in the hope that things would be back to some relative normality. We estimated a budget on what we had and what we thought we could save in that time then got the venue secured. Once we had our date decided Ciara got her dress pretty soon after that and then it was onto Photographer and Videographer. We fell in love with Pop Photography’s romantic images and after meeting with Gabi knew she would be great craic to spend our wedding day with. When we found out Gabi’s wife Dearbhaile was a videographer (She Makes Movies) we knew we had found the perfect pair.
Tell us all about your venue(s) and how you decided on them?
We got married in Ciara’s family church in Carryduff followed by a reception at the stunning Slieve Donard Hotel. We both love the beach so the setting was perfect. We had a lot of guests travelling over from Scotland, Italy, America, Australia and New Zealand, and knew they would be blown away by the gorgeous view as you drive into Newcastle of the breath-taking Mourne Mountains sweeping down to the sea.
Tell us all about your wedding dress, bridesmaid dresses and suits- how was the shopping experience for them and were there any challenges?
I got my dress within one week of looking as I was home for Christmas and there were rumours another lockdown was on the horizon – just as well as most wedding dress shops closed for Christmas and didn’t reopen for months. I made appointments at three shops that I knew from looking online stocked dresses in the shape I was after. I went to each appointment with a couple of images of dresses from their websites that I was interested in trying. I showed two images to the ladies at Perfect Day in Lurgan and one of them ended up being my dream wedding dress.
For Michael and the boys he was set on a traditional kilt. We wanted to get an idea of these first as I wanted to match the Bridemaid’s dresses to the kilt colours, thankfully Michael’s family tartan had quite a few colours to pick from and green was perfect.
For my Bridesmaid’s I knew I wanted a deep jewel-toned green satin, with my Maid of Honour in Australia, two bridesmaid’s in Scotland and another in Belfast it seemed easiest to buy online so the girls could try on and return. After looking for inspiration on Instagram I came across TH&TH and immediately fell in love with their dresses, they were exactly what I had in mind. With my sister only arriving back from Australia the week before the wedding I was worried about alternations but my dressmaker the dream that is Donna from Sew Handy Designs had her taken care off in a matter of days.
What was the best part in the build up to your day?
The idea of finally having all our family and friends back together after so many years apart. We just wanted to plan an epic day filled with good food, company and music!
Also wedding cake tasting! One Friday evening we arrived back from work to find a delivery of sample wedding cake flavours from Landa at NI Cake Design. It was actually pretty difficult as every flavour was incredible.
What was the best moment of your day and your other favourite parts?
Seeing all our plans come to life was amazing and getting to share it all with our favourite people was a dream. Ciara’s Granda wasn’t well but made it to the church to see us get married. He passed away a couple of weeks ago and we cherish the photos and the video from the day knowing that the family got to share it with him.
As a special surprise we had organised some Ceilidh dancing at our reception, our guests had a ball learning The Dashing White Sergeant and it made sure we had everyone up on the dance floor.
We also highly recommend having a Day twp celebration if you can, Ciara’s parents had everyone round to their garden and it gave us a chance to talk so much more to everyone and actually eat some of the wedding cake.
What would you tell other bride and grooms to plan first & what are your top tips?
Brides get your dressmaker booked in for alterations stat! Getting the dress is only half the battle; you need someone to work their magic to make sure it fits like a glove.
The best advice we were given when planning was to each pick three things that are important to you for the wedding, this helps to focus where your time and money is best spent.
After your venue and photographer/videographer, florists and bands are two of the top things to get sorted. I found florists challenging as I knew what I didn’t want but wasn’t sure what I did want. The second I stepped into All Seasons Floral Design Claire and Ciara put me at ease and were a dream to work with. We both loved The Professionals and knew they would have our guests dancing all night.
What were the hardest parts to plan? Did you come across any difficulties?
Edinburgh is only a short flight from Belfast but at times it felt like we were planning a destination wedding! It ended up being more stressful than we had anticipated as we had to plan in intense weekends of wedding planning at a time with back to back appointments scheduled in. It was hard not being able to pop to the florists after work or call up to the venue whenever we wanted.
Tell us all about your theme and vibe of your wedding?
Classic, elegant, romantic with a hint of drama. We just wanted one big party for all our family and friends. We wanted to celebrate our family heritages - Irish, Scottish and Italian, so there were lots of small touches we incorporated throughout the day.
Would you do anything different or wish there was anything you didn't worry about?
Once we started planning and researching, very quickly my Instagram became filled with picture-perfect wedding pages and it got a bit overwhelming at times. Every so often I just had to shut it off for a mental break. Comparison is the thief of joy – just plan your day for you and your partner and it will all fall into place.
Did Covid affect your plans at all?
We did the bulk of our planning in Spring 2021 and found it pretty challenging to plan a big wedding during lockdown when at times it felt like things would never get back to normal. It gave us something to look forward too but we were worried that we would have to postpone.
We had family members travel all the way from Australia and New Zealand and we were lucky by the date of the wedding that their borders had very recently opened up after lockdown. However, one of them, unfortunately, caught Covid the day before the wedding and couldn’t attend. It was heartbreaking that they had made the effort to come all that way and yet couldn’t attend. Thankfully the church webcam meant that could join us virtually.
Anything else you want to add?
A massive thank you to our absolutely amazing wedding suppliers:
Dress -@ronaldjoycebridal
Wedding Dress Shop- @perfectdaybridallurgan_
Veil - @richarddesignsbridal
Gloves - etsy
Bridesmaids - @thth_bridesmaids
Alternations - @sewhandydesigns
Bride’s Crown - @saintbethofficial2
Florist - @allseasonsbelfast
Photography - @pop_photographyni
Videography - @she_makes_movies
Breakfast - @weddingdaybreakfastbyjustine
Hair - @danibelle_weddinghair
Make Up - @hunibex
Signage - @dustyrosedesignsni
Bride’s Jacket - @niamhdesigns
Cars - @bentleyweddingcarni
Music (ceremony) - @catherine.soprano.harpist
Venue - @slieve_donard_resort
Venue Stylist - @addalittle.sparkleni
Band - @theprofessionalsweddingband
Cake - @ni_cake_design
Cake Topper - @thesugarconcept
Neon & Floral Hoop - @bloomsandballoonsni
Photo Booth - @selfiesolutionsni
Indoor Fireworks - @photomirrorsni
Ceilidh Caller - Claire Hughes
Kilts - @bowdenskilts
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Do you want to tell us all about your wedding day? Email be@belfastlive.co.uk for your chance to be featured.
