John and Julieanne tied the knot on a beautifully sunny day in late September of this year at Tankardstown House. They met five years ago in Scotland through work. They were working in different locations for the same firm before John transferred to Ireland six months into their relationship. Photography by Brosnan Photographic.
Four years later, John asked Julieanne to marry him in a lavish proposal at The Shelbourne Hotel. “I was escorted to the Eamon De Valera suite which overlooks the park, when I entered the room it was covered 1000 white roses in stunning arrangements. He came out from behind a door and proposed and we had a really fun evening drinking Laurent Perrier pink champagne, which we drank on our first date.”
After such a lavish proposal, Julieanne felt the pressure to have a gorgeous wedding, but the venue was an easy decision, and they only visited one. “We had stayed in Tankardstown house before and fell in love with the elegant surroundings and beautiful interiors. We didn’t visit any other venues as we knew it had everything we wanted: a stunning room, fantastic food and an amazing service. The wedding team are incredibly helpful and take a real interest in attention to detail.”
When it came to her dress, Julieanne knew she wanted an unusual gown, as she loves fashion and design. She fell in love with Israeli designers, like Galia Lahav, Inbal Dror and Berta, so when Cari’s Closet started stocking Berta bridal gowns she had to go and look. “I tried on five dresses I had chosen online, all absolutely beautiful, but fell in love with intricate beading and dramatic lace train of my dress and knew I’d chosen the right one.”
“I also wanted my bridesmaids in white as I love an all over white theme. I got their dresses from Maids to Measure in the UK, they were ivory silk, elegant gowns that they all looked beautiful in. I gifted them with aqua chalcedony earrings and bangles from Margaret Elizabeth, which was the perfect accent against the white.” The Informal Florist did their flowers, kept simple with all white and lots of greenery.
A lover of a little sparkle, the couple also chose glittery table numbers and lots of little signs from Etsy dotted around. They also had sparklers, photo props and a photo booth for their guests to enjoy.
Their wedding favours were heart-shaped boxes of Charbonnel et Walker truffles. “I have a real sweet tooth and absolutely adore macaroons, so I decided to combine the two and have a macaroon tower by Laduree for our wedding cake displayed on a dessert table. I went to Emily’s Pantry for my dessert table, Emily was absolutely fantastic and her cakes and desserts taste out of this world, she created a gorgeous look with a gold and white buttercream covered chocolate truffle cake and also a luscious lemon cake, gold glitter red velvet cake pops, J&J initial vanilla cookies and gold glitter and pearl embellished cupcakes. They were the perfect backdrop to our rose and vanilla macron tower wedding cake. It was a real centrepiece in the room and really beautiful to look at and taste.”
The bride and her maids stayed in The Merrion Hotel the night before and had some beautiful photo opportunities in the private gardens. “All the hair and makeup was by Lukasz Rod from Batik Hair and Kim O Sullivan from the Dublin Makeup Academy, I have been going to both of them for quite a long time so trusted them entirely to do an amazing job on the day.”
“If I could give any advice to brides to be, I would say make sure you choose vendors you feel comfortable with and that understand the direction and style that you want, some of the greatest stress comes from worrying how it will all come together, I had an absolute superstar line up of suppliers and they all exceeded my expectations on the day and were so lovely and calming to deal with all the times.”
“Most importantly, try and get some time together to take a breath and relax, it’s such an amazing day and a lot of time is spent speaking with your guests, so making sure you even have half an hour to yourselves to soak it all up is so important.”
Vendors: Photography: Brosnan Photographic | Dress: Berta Bridal | Bridesmaid dresses: Maids to Measure | Florist: The Informal Florist | Wedding shoes: Valentino | Grooms Kilt: Geoffrey Tailor Kiltmakers | Venue: Tankardstown House | Church: University Church - St Stephens Green | Music: Dublin Gospel Choir | Band: The Good Guys | Hair: Batik Hair | Makeup: Kim O'Sullivan - The Dublin Makeup Academy | Macaron Tower: Laduree at Brown Thomas | Dessert Table: Emily's Pantry | Stationery: Minted & Little Deets | Wedding favours: Charbonnel et Walker | Table numbers: Etsy