Dreaming of a city wedding, Karen and Eoin tied the knot in a beautiful summer ceremony in Dublin City Hall, followed by a waterfront reception at Charlotte Quay restaurant.

THE PROPOSAL

Eoin decided the right place to propose was CABÜ Cabins in Cavan as it’s one of our favourite places. Despite a rainy setback during his planned lakeside picnic proposal, my willingness to stroll in the rain with prosecco in hand made the moment unforgettable. After the proposal, Eoin treated me to my favourite dinner, followed by champagne and a slideshow of our memories together and a playlist of all our songs. It’s a running joke that everything has to be just “perfect” for me and this couldn’t have been more perfect.

THE WEDDING ATTIRE

Wedding dress shopping was so much fun. I originally planned to do a short plain white dress with a bow, so I was surprised at how much I absolutely loved the dress that my mam picked out for me to try from Savin London at Alice May Bridal! That was it, we were sold.

Eoin really enjoyed going shopping for the suits with his groomsmen. The lads spent multiple days across different locations trying to find the suits for them, and ended up getting them from Protocol on Dawson Street.

THE CEREMONY

Moya Corcoran was the celebrant for our humanist ceremony and we planned a beautiful ceremony together. Doug Sheridan provided the music and was fantastic!

THE RECEPTION

We booked the bar and restaurant at Charlotte Quay Restaurant for the day. There’s something really special about Charlotte Quay; we loved it instantly. Unfortunately, the bus that we organised to bring our guests from City Hall to Charlotte Quay was an hour trying to navigate one-way streets in Dublin! It was actually nice having the time to relax together after the ceremony and before the rest of the celebrations.

We had canapés and drinks when we arrived, followed by a four-course dinner and evening food all provided by Charlotte Quay. Everything was absolutely delicious and cooked to perfection.

THE ENTERTAINMENT

Doug Sheridan played acoustic guitar and sang for the ceremony. We made our own playlists for the rest of the day.

THE DECOR

We kept this minimal. City Hall is beautiful itself, as was Charlotte Quay. Charlotte Quay provided table decorations – fresh flowers in glass jars. My dad designed the invitations and table plan.

THEIR TOP TIPS

Figure out what you both want for the wedding, what your absolute musts are, and what you are willing to compromise on. Don’t do everything for other people; your family and friends are there to celebrate you, so they’ll love everything (well, that’s what they told us anyway !). Try not to stress, as everything will work out.

THEY WISH THEY HAD

Not drank all the champagne and prosecco before dinner!