Wexford bride weds in vintage wedding in breathtaking black dress

Aoife Sutton-Butler and Micheál Butler wed in a stunning non-religious ceremony with the bride wearing a breathtaking black gown accompanied with a gorgeous black lace veil

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Life

Kathy Prendeville

15:03, 20 MAY 2023

Aoife and Micheál's wedding (Image: Ruth Connolly Photography)

THE HAPPY COUPLE

Aoife Sutton-Butler, from Wexford, and Micheál Butler from Tipperary.

THE PROPOSAL

We both decided when to get engaged! We went to Saltaire, a little village in West Yorkshire, and picked out an antique engagement ring together dating to the 1950s.

THE FIRST GLANCE

We met when we were both studying archaeology in UCD and got together after going on the same archaeological dig in the Scottish Mountains.

THE RECEPTION

We had our ceremony and reception at Waterford Castle – a stunning island venue only accessible by ferry! Our handfast ceremony took place in front of the huge castle fireplace with 80 guests present.

We had a non-religious ceremony with the celebrant Rev. Jessica Statham. After our drinks reception we had our wedding meal in the Munster room – a beautiful wooden panelled room with our centrepieces consisting of tall candelabras with black candles and cream flowers with greenery.

We are both archaeological researchers and loved the historical, gothic vibe of the venue. It was also where my late Mother worked when she was young back in the early 1990s. We loved the sentimental link, and it was a perfect setting for a winter wedding.

THE WEATHER

It was a moody day which suited the vibe of the wedding perfectly – luckily the rain held off!

THE DRESS

The dress was made and designed for me by Mizz Rio in Dublin. I knew I wanted a black dress and couldn’t find one with a bridal feel.

I wanted something vintage lace inspired with a dramatic veil. I had an amazing experience with the designer and can’t recommend Mags highly enough for alternative brides.

THE PHOTOGRAPHER

Ruth Connolly Photography and our videographer was DG Video.

THE BAND

We had Loose Cannons – an amazing rock band that got everyone on the floor dancing. We also got our guests to waltz to Nothing Else Matters by Metallica.

THE FIRST DANCE

We had Elvis ‘Can’t help falling in love with you’, we are both huge Elvis fans, and we love everything retro.

THE HIGHLIGHTS

We had an amazing first look before the ceremony, it got all the nerves and tears out of the way before the walk down the aisle. It was in a beautiful, forested area on the castle grounds.

We incorporated a Celtic handfast into the ceremony and the chords were handmade by Micheál’s Mother, Trish. We had an amazing caricaturist called Mark Heng who did sketches of all our guests.

We also had a sparkler tunnel for pictures and one of our groomsmen, James, had to stamp on my long veil to put out an ember! We eventually got our wedding bands tattooed as well which was another highlight.

THE STRESS FACTOR

It was a mixture of both – sometimes it was a little stressful making sure everything was in place but Gillian, our wedding coordinator, helped us out so much.