A NI couple have shared a look into their beautiful wedding day at Leighinmohr House Hotel.
Megan and 28-year-old Bradley Taylor, from Carrickfergus, have known each other since they were kids and got married on April 29, 2022. 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.
Megan, 25, told Be: "We got engaged on February 7, 2020. I was 16 weeks pregnant and it was our gender reveal party the next day. Bradley had got his brother down and said to me that he was going to do a surprise for the gender reveal while we went out for dinner.
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"I was oblivious and didn’t click on, so we headed out to a local restaurant while his brother was decorating our house in red balloons, confetti, candles, photos from the ceiling of our first dates to our baby scans, and a banner which said: 'Fancy being Mrs Taylor?'
"I was that shocked that I didn’t say 'yes' straight away. I just took the box out of his hand and we laugh about it now."
Tell us all about your wedding day!
Our wedding day was in Leighinmohr House Hotel, Ballymena. We wanted somewhere that we got a strong feeling about when we walked in. We got that immediately with Leighinmohr for both the ceremony and reception. We loved our day from start to finish. The sun was shining, and watching our guests outside in the sun and smiling made our day.
How did you begin planning your wedding?
We started with the venue. Once we had it booked, we went into lockdown and then I found it hard planning. I knew in my head who I wanted as a photographer, makeup artist and hairdresser but other suppliers such as flowers and cars, I found it hard to pick as I would have loved to have gone to some wedding fairs. They weren't on because of lockdown and I needed to get everything organised.
How did you decide on your venue?
Leighinmohr House Hotel we had for both the ceremony and reception. We had already been to five venues and I was being fussy, but it's your wedding day of all days and you're allowed to be as fussy as you want. We were outside and Bradley said, "I am not sure about here", but as soon as we went in, the staff were so lovely. Nikki who we met with couldn’t have been any more helpful and then Patricia who ran our day was fantastic. They really sold it for us as well as their amazing grounds.
Tell us about your wedding dress, bridesmaid dresses and suits.
I got my wedding dress from a local bridal boutique called Loralea Bridal in Carrickfergus. What made it special was that I had my mum and mother-in-law with me. Maxine and Lorraine from Loralea were amazing at helping me try on different dresses. My dress was the first dress I put on as I fell in love with it. When I seen my mum cry, I knew it was the one.
I had four bridesmaids and I didn’t want to go overboard with price. I firstly was ordering multiple dresses online and then sending them back. Then we all decided to go up to WED2BE in Belfast and fell in love with two dress styles and three colours. It was a very stressful decision and in the end, we went with powder blue and put my maid of honour in a different style to the rest.
For the men, we went to Red Groomswear in Belfast. Tom was great and very helpful. We went for black tuxedos for the groomsmen and a navy tuxedo jacket for Bradley.
What was the best part in the build up to your day?
The best part running up to the wedding was my hen party planned by my amazing bridal party, and also doing my own fine details. I used businesses on Etsy to help create gin-themed tables and a table plan. I also got my family and friends to drink a lot of gin eight months running up to our wedding to use as centre pieces on the tables!
What was the best moment of your day and your other favourite parts?
Our best moment was for sure the ceremony by the lovely James Clarke - he made it so relaxed. Our son Austin was on my hip when we got married and I couldn’t have asked for a better moment.
What I love is that we got 12 disposable cameras and put one on all the tables. Now we are developing one every month until our year anniversary to take us back to our special day.
What would you tell other bride and grooms to plan first & what are your top tips?
Have your date and venue sorted and then everything starts to come into place after with the rest of your suppliers.
If I was to do it all again, I would say don’t stress and enjoy the build-up to your beautiful day as it will always come together on the day.
What were the hardest parts to plan? Did you come across any difficulties?
The hardest part was the guest list, finalising numbers and seeing where to place everyone. I was that stressed with it that I got a life-size piece of card and started drawing out the circle tables and used little sticky notes so I could swap and change people. I was a Monica Geller from Friends colour coding everyone.
Tell us about the theme/vibe of your wedding.
We wanted a chilled and relaxed day with our guests. After the past two years with Covid, we wanted everyone to have a great day out.
Would you do anything different or wish there was anything you didn't worry about?
I wouldn’t change a thing, we had the best day we could have ever wished for with our family and friends. I do wish I didn’t stress as much the week of the wedding as it really did just come together on the day.
READ NEXT:
- Inside My Wedding: NI couple's big day at Tullyveery House
- Inside My Wedding: NI couple's beautiful day at Corick House Hotel & Spa
- Inside My Wedding: NI couple's timeless day at Killeavy Castle
- Inside My Wedding: Belfast woman comes home from US to have her special day
Do you want to tell us all about your wedding day? Email be@belfastlive.co.uk to be featured!
