Tuesday 19 November 2013

From Dublin to Cork to Dublin again

This is just a peek into my recent trip to Ireland for THE WEDDING. I didn't take nearly as many pictures as I had during trips in the past. I wanted to enjoy my time there, rather than spending my time looking through a camera. I do regret not taking more photos in certain areas - there were full days where I did not touch the camera and missed some great photo opportunities. I suppose there is always next time!
















Wednesday 13 November 2013

What a wedding!

One of the reasons I had been too busy and pooped to post for the last while is because I was preparing for my wedding. The wedding, as you may already know, was held in Ireland, so not only was I planning a wedding, but I was making arrangements overseas - what a challenge! Everything turned out wonderfully, even better than I could have asked for. Now, I could go on and on about every little detail of the wedding but I will spare you, since you may not find everything as interesting (or relevant) as I have but I will share some of what was important to me about the trip and the big day.

First of all, the wedding would have been nothing without all of the friends and family who came (from near and far) for the big day. I had family and friends from both Canada and England who traveled to Ireland to be there and celebrate with me and I cannot begin to tell you how much fun we all had - laughing until we cried, eating way too much yummy food and having a few drinks. Due to running around at the last minute finalizing some wedding details, I did not get to party with the family and friends nearly as much as I wanted to, so I believe another trip will be in order down the road!

Photo courtesy of Holly Gray (Maid of Honor, best friend and all around awesome person).

The wedding was held in the church pictured above, St. Finbarr's Oratory in Gougane Barra, County Cork. The church, which sits on a little island in the middle of a lake, seats no more than 40 people for a cozy little ceremony. How can you not just stand there and take photo after photo of this place? The area is so quiet and tranquil and sits just outside of a gorgeous national park. Just out of the frame is the Gougane Barra Hotel, which is where the reception was held and where most friends and family stayed. The hotel was amazing. It is an older hotel with lots of character (picture an upscale Fawlty Towers). The couple who run the place (Neil and Katy) were great, they were so incredibly warm, friendly and helpful - they really went above and beyond for not only myself and the mister, but all of my family and friends who came out for the wedding. The food was incredible, the atmosphere was great, I just couldn't ask for anything more! I will definitely be going back for a visit the next time I am in Ireland.


The "look" I was after for the wedding was slightly vintage, a bit rustic and homemade. I think I did a good job achieving it. I had loads of homemade buntings in reds, yellows, pale blue, green and white. The flowers, as you can see from the photo above were (my favorite) daisies, white and yellow with a splash of red - the red to match my shoes, nails, lips and bow in hair. I have to thank Enchanted Flowers in Macroom for all they did - communicating with me by email, meeting with me last minute and ordering tons of these little flowers for me with just two days to spare - not to mention driving the flowers to the church and hotel and setting up the 20+ vases and glasses I had been collecting over the months and took with me (carry on) all the way to Ireland!


My dress was ordered from Etsy, the shop called Penny Pardy. Since I did the dress ordering in a panic at the VERY last minute, I ordered the dress a size too big, figuring that if it was too big it can be altered, but if I ordered my exact size there would be no wiggle room if it came a bit snug (or if I gained an ounce before the big day!). I wouldn't recommend doing what I did, because the dress, albeit beautiful, was far too big and even after having taken it in, it did not fit as perfectly as I would have hoped (I am an odd shape and probably should have been measured for a more custom dress). Regardless of the fit I received a lot of compliments on the dress, the fabric was very pretty and I was able to achieve my goal of a wedding dress that was comfortable to wear and dance in all day AND that was NOT strapless! I would definitely order from her shop again, but I would not rush it and take the time to communicate my measurements to get a dress that fits perfectly...I may just consider wearing more dresses in the future (oh my god, I can't believe I just said typed that!).


One last wedding-thing I must mention is our wedding photographer. His name is Ivan and he was amazing! I have to say he was a big part in making the day what it was - really! He was incredibly easy going and a pleasure to work with. He had actually taken a trip to the hotel, church and national park weeks before our wedding to scope out good spots for photos. He did an amazing job of capturing what was happening through the day, there were no posed photos, everything was relaxed and natural. He blended right in with the guests (who all loved him, by the way!) and managed to capture some amazing shots.If you are looking for a photographer in Ireland (Cork) I would not hesitate to recommend him.

All together the wedding turned out really well and I hope everyone in attendance had as much fun as I did! There are many more people I must thank, from our priest in Canada to our priest in Ireland, all restaurateurs, hotel staff members and pub owners that took care of my group of family and friends as we traveled across Ireland!

I will leave you with that - like I said, I don't want to bore you with every detail! I will however share a few more photos in the coming weeks and as life gets back to normal, I hope to get back to posting when I can.


Monday 4 November 2013

One minute it's July and the next thing you know...

It's November?! Where has time gone? I disappeared for a seriously long time, no? A lot has happened since my last post - too much in fact to start talking about now, that would just be plain crazy. I will spare the boring details and just say that I have been working a lot, so much so that I go days on end without turning on my computer and checking emails, never mind snapping photos and posting here. Work has taken over my life, I have neglected my garden and my kitchen (what's a home cooked meal again?!) and I am always tired. Another thing that has kept me busy was my wedding - planning a wedding and working a full time job and trying to take care of a home and life-things in general is hard. The wedding has come and gone and I have the day off so I am setting aside a few minutes (in between raking leaves!) to sit down and get back to this blog. I can't say I will post as frequently as I once did but I am really going to try and touch base here once a week. Check back soon...