Dublin bride's gorgeous city wedding after romantic family proposal

THE HAPPY COUPLE

Laura Byrne and Jack MacDonald from Dublin.

THE RECEPTION

Our reception was in The Westin Hotel in College Green. It took place in the stunning Banking Hall in the hotel. The staff at the Westin were amazing, they couldn’t have done more for us and our guests.

As it was Christmas time the room had gorgeous Christmas Decorations and we didn’t need to add a thing. Drinks reception before sinner was rocking with music from Jon Sadlier. It was the perfect way to get the evening started.

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We always wanted a Dublin based wedding with City Hall for ceremony. When we viewed the Banking Hall in the Westin we loved it and the feel from the hotel was so lovely it just felt right.

THE BIG DAY

It lashed rain all morning but the rain stopped just as me and my dad pulled up to City Hall. It brightened up for the afternoon and evening then and thankfully wasn’t too cold that day in comparison with rest of December!

THE DRESS

My dress was bought in MK Bridal shop in Navan which was the first and only shop I went to. The designer was Paloma Blanca.

I was nearly three months pregnant going for my first dress shop and chose MK Bridal first because I had seen them on Instagram. It was the nicest experience and the staff in the shop chose this dress for me to try on it was a ‘fit and flare’ style and I loved it. I felt so comfortable with it on. My two Bridesmaids were with me and it was an easy yes! I didn’t look anywhere else.

THE PHOTOGRAPHER

Our photographer was Simon Peare. I found Simon through City Hall Instagram page and would highly recommend his work.

THE BAND

Our band was Jo Petit and the Dream Band. They were amazing! We had seen them at a friends wedding few years previously and always loved them, especially Jo. He performs like a concert and gets everyone on the dance floor. I cannot recommend them enough.

THE FIRST DANCE

Waiting for a star to fall by Boy Meets Girl. We have both always loved this song and it was perfect for first dance not too slow so everyone danced along with us.

THE HIGHLIGHTS

I got ready with my bridesmaids and mam and Dad in the Westin and it was so nice to wake up in heart of the city in such a nice hotel suite and it just made me so relaxed.

Other highlight was seeing our eldest son, who was three at the time, walking up aisle as pageboy. He was so well behaved during the ceremony and took it all in. It was so nice to see all of our guests have so much fun and enjoy it all as it was so close to Christmas.

THE STRESS FACTOR

A funny, or should I say disastrous thing happened 10 days before the wedding - my son accidentally head butted me and I had a very black eye for my wedding day!

The funny part the morning of the wedding was having my make up artist Ciara Doyle trying to use cover up to hide my purple/yellow eye which she did amazingly. My make up was fabulous and there was no sign of any bruised eye thankfully!

Apart from the black eye, it was very stress free organising the wedding as I was still on maternity leave and enjoyed doing it all. Having two young children made it a little bit less relaxed the few weeks leading up to the wedding but thankfully all went to plan.

THE HONEYMOON

We were very lucky that our parents offered to mind our children for five days and we went to Costa Adeje in Tenerife in early January. It was fabulous and we were so grateful to be away in the sun in winter. We got to relax and catch up on all the photos and videos of wedding.

THE PROPOSAL

It was my son's second birthday and we were on our first holiday abroad since Covid . Our parents were with us too and Jack got down on one knee that morning in our apartment, just us and our son . We then went into both our parents rooms to tell them the good news and that night we went to a stunning restaurant with sea view to celebrate.

THE FIRST GLANCE

We knew each other from the area for a long time and always had mutual friends. It evolved over a number of months from a friendship to a relationship and the rest is history!

THE WORDS OF ADVICE

Once you have the main things booked and deposits paid, take your time to sit back and do any lists and budget you need to. My biggest advice in general is less is more and don’t sweat the small stuff.

Would you like to have your wedding featured in RSVP Magazine and on our website RSVP Live? Get in touch with kathy.prendeville@reachplc.com