A Belfast couple have shared a look inside their special wedding day at Tullyglass House Hotel.
Amanda and Ryan Adair got married on November 20, 2021 after getting engaged in August 2019 on a family holiday to Majorca with their kids Olivia and Harry.
In Be 's weekly feature Inside My Wedding, couples are delving into their special day to give bride and grooms-to-be some top tips.
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The nurse and plumber first met in December 2010, with Ryan being a mutual friend of Amanda's three brothers and they later got together in June 2013.
Amanda said: "After only a couple of months of dating I dropped the news that I was moving to Scotland for three years (with my daughter who was 6 at the time) to do my nursing.
"We somehow made this work with a long distance relationship, Ryan would come to Scotland once a month and I would get home on all the university holidays. I completed my nursing in August 2016 and returned home where we all moved in together. We had our son in December 2017."
The Belfast mum has told us all about their special day.
Tell us all about your wedding.
Our wedding day was Saturday 20th November 2021, it was the most perfect day and everything went so smoothly! We had our wedding ceremony and reception at the Tullyglass House Hotel with 101 guests. It was a beautiful setting with beautiful grounds.
Ryan stayed at Tullyglass with his best man and groomsman the night before the wedding. I stayed in our family home in Belfast and left from there the morning of the wedding.
There was heavy rain on the camper van journey en route to our wedding but the minute we arrived in Ballymena, the sun came out and it stayed bright and dry the rest of the day! I was nervous but also very excited to see Ryan! Ryan on the other hand was a nervous wreck.
How did you begin planning your wedding? What did you start with?
We literally started planning our wedding when we returned from our family holiday. We decided then that we only wanted to wait a year, so had planned to get married in November 2020. We thought Autumn would be a lovely time of year and slightly different from a spring/summer wedding. We started by looking at various venues, I wanted something a little quirky and this is when we found our original venue.
We booked it in September 2019 for the following November. After this I began to search for other vendors such as my wedding dress, photographer, videographer, florist, cars, band and ceremony music etc. I actually found quite a lot of my vendors via Instagram!
When Covid hit, our original venue ended up going into administration and we lost our deposit. We were both devastated by this and also worried as at this stage, we had already booked a lot of our vendors. We were worried that we wouldn’t find a new venue or be able keep our original vendors and dates etc. It was a stressful time but we knew we had to start looking for a new venue ASAP.
We googled other venues in NI and came across Tullyglass House Hotel. I had noticed that it had been recently renovated and looked absolutely beautiful on the website. We decided to go and see it and when we arrived, Ryan turned and said to me, “This is the one” before we even walked through the doors to our appointment!
We spoke with Odhran (wedding coordinator) and he showed us around the hotel and grounds, explaining that we could have our ceremony and reception all under one roof! To our delight they had one Saturday left [in November] - we didn’t hesitate and booked it there and then! It was such a relief to have our wedding back on track! Luckily all of our original vendors were so accommodating and were all available on the new wedding date! By November 2021, restrictions were relaxed, weddings could go ahead with original numbers and best of all, dancing was allowed!
Tell us all about your wedding dress, bridesmaid dresses and the suits.
After looking in only two wedding gown shops, I found the most beautiful, perfect dress at Laboda Bridal in Banbridge. My mother in-law and sister-in-law were with me, with my mum on FaceTime as she lives in Scotland. I put the dress on and they all cried! I just felt beautiful and ended up crying myself!
For my bridesmaids, I originally had floaty, dusky pink dresses in mind. My bridesmaids included my sister-in-law and my teenage daughter and niece. It was quite hard trying to find bridesmaid dresses to suit two teenage girls. We had ordered numerous dresses online and none of them suited. We eventually went to Perfect Day Bridal and a lovely dress in the colour ‘deep sea’ caught my eye.
The teenage girls went for a halter neck style and my sister-in-law went for an off-the-shoulder dress! It was a relief to finally all agree on dresses that everyone was happy with! My little flower girl wore a pretty little ivory dress and shoes from Monsoon.
The men were the easiest, I knew exactly what I wanted for them! A family friend had recommended Focus Menswear in Newtownards. I wanted a vintage feel to the men's suits, so went for navy tweed. We decided to hire the suits as tweed is quite expensive. I went for a casual/comfortable look for my three little page boys who wore navy chinos, white shirts, braces, bow ties and converse!
What was the best part in the build up to your day?
The best part in the build up was deciding on all the little extras like favours and invites etc. I loved sitting most nights looking for different ideas on Pinterest and Instagram. I just loved every minute of the planning and imagining the day in my head! I was in my element and never stopped talking about my wedding to family and friends!
What was the best moment of your day and your other favourite parts?
The best part of the day for both Ryan and I was the moment I walked down the isle with my dad by my side. I looked at Ryan and could see that he had already been crying, which in turn made me cry a little happy tear!
Another favourite moment for me was when my dad first saw me! I’m his only daughter and when he first seen me walking down the stairs towards him, he cried! He never cries so I just knew how proud and happy he was for me! It was a lovely moment that I will cherish always.
My brother, his wife and two young kids live in Australia and said they wouldn’t make it to our big day due to the borders being closed. Although borders [for some residents] reopened a few weeks before our wedding day, which myself and Ryan were unaware of. They made the trip and ended up calling at our front door two days before the wedding and asked if it wouldn’t be too much trouble to add them on! We were totally shocked! I just cried, I couldn’t believe they were standing there in real life! I felt like my family was complete.
We had an amazing foliage gin wall provided by Champagne Memories for all of our guests to enjoy. While the guests enjoyed the food and drinks at the drinks reception, the music duo we booked (Acoustic Melodies) played beautifully in the background. The atmosphere was just spectacular!
Walking into the reception room was one of the best parts! Everyone was clapping, whistling and cheering for us. We literally felt like celebrities. The speeches were fantastic, we laughed and cried all at the same time.
My mum surprised us by singing alongside our band The City to the song 'Love You 'Till The End' by The Pogues. It made our first dance that extra bit special, she was amazing and our guests were all really impressed. Ryan was nervous about the first dance as he’s definitely not one for dancing, but he did really well swinging me around the dance floor.
I also had a father-daughter dance with my dad to Elton John's ‘Your Song’, it was so sweet!
What would you tell other bride and grooms to plan first and what are your top tips?
I would tell other bride and grooms to choose the venue and theme first.
My top tip would be not to stress about the silly little things, everything always works out on the day! Also another tip would be to have a good nosey on Instagram, you can literally find everything you need there and get so many ideas for your day.
Don’t hesitate on getting something you want, you only get married once and you might regret not getting something, or not having something that you really wanted. I am so glad we had a videographer, it means we will have footage of our day to cherish forever and can pop it on the big screen with all the family round.
What were the hardest parts to plan? Did you come across any difficulties?
I didn’t really find anything hard to plan, everything is quite straightforward as long as you keep on the ball. Have a wedding template of a list of things you need and want to tick them off etc.
Tell us about your theme.
Right from the beginning of planning I had a greenery foliage/bohemian theme in mind. I wanted the décor to look romantic and natural with a relaxed feel. I found a company called Charm Wedding Studio who had the most beautiful green trees, I just couldn’t resist! It was like bringing the outside in! They styled our ceremony room with green trees and lanterns. The trees lined the isle and felt like I was walking down a magical path in the forest! It was just stunning!
Would you do anything different?
I don’t think there is anything we would change about our wedding day, everything was perfect. The food at the Tullyglass was amazing and everything flowed nicely throughout the day. So many of our guests commented on all aspects of our day and how much they enjoyed it!
We both just wish we could relive it. I know a lot of people say it, but it really was the best day ever.
All photos by Mark Barnes, @mkbphotography1 , www.mkbarnesphotography.com
Do you want to tell us all about your wedding day? Email be@belfastlive.co.uk to be featured!
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