A Classic Verdant Wedding at Hilton Park Demesne
Having been approached by this Irish American (he’s Irish, She’s American) San Francisco-based couple, to plan their two-day destination wedding, just five months out from the date they had booked at Hilton Park, I knew it would be foot to the floor, right away, but I was excited. I’d wanted to do a wedding at this historic Irish venue, for years and I loved Emma & Adrian’s no-nonsense, can-do positivity. They visited the following week, we met in a Clones pub, hatched plans, toured Hilton Park together & within the following fortnight, had their suppliers locked & loaded, with a solid plan forming for the big picture.
While having a leisurely year or two to plan your wedding is nice, sometimes having a short deadline can be freeing… we made decisions based on what immediately made sense, which generally makes for the best wedding chemistry… and boy did it pay off, here.
The brief from Emma (a luxury event organiser and the daughter of a California catering family… no pressure, Kate) was for exacting event standards; excellent, locally-sourced food and drinks, flawlessly tasteful styling and pin-perfect service… but never pretentious or in any way alienating to the Irish contingent who, Adrian maintained, would suffer no stuffy nonsense. Balancing the expectations of two cultures is often a key nuance to our role and something I find extremely satisfying to pull off. Extending an Irish welcome, that acknowledges and respects the experience of guests so thrilled to be in our beautiful Ireland, is one of the great prides of my work a destination wedding planner.
Emma and Adrian were dreaming of a church wedding, as much for the sense of gravitas and elegance it bestows, as for reverence of their religious & cultural backgrounds. Though it must be said, an Irish Catholic wedding does present some not insignificant hurdles… especially for non-Irish couples, and while the personal tasks have to fall to the couple themselves, we guide on the particulars and liaise with the church and priest, to bring all the elements together.
Paperwork aside, something I encounter time and again is the preference of most of my couples for a three o’clock ceremony… while Wedding Time at almost every Irish church is one… that’s just too much afternoon drinking time, people. For this ceremony, we conducted an exhaustive priest hunt, until we eventually found a local Padre willing to break with tradition & marry this marvellous pair two hours late. The rest of the day thanked us immensely for this scheduling effort.
Post I Do, our lovebirds made a speedy exit in their vintage Rolls, meeting photographer Chris at his pre-scoped dream locations on the grounds of their private weekend wonderland, and had their couple shots wrapped up by the time we had guided guests onto busses and brought them back to Hilton Park for a champagne welcome. As you can see, the rest, is (natural petal) confetti.
What solidifies Hilton Park as a planner’s dream (along with the magnificently historic and authentic manor house and breathtaking rolling grounds) is this perfect event space. Restored by the clever owners Joanna and Fred (who live there, with three generations of family), it’s an old equestrian colonnade, filled with light, the best neutral palette and all the cosy wooden texture of a New England beach house. It’s the essence of a blank canvas and just cries out for earthy florals and delicate tablescaping… which, of course, we obliged.
The lofty ceiling found it’s true love in this magic scented hoppy foliage installation, crafted by Patsie, while table florals looked like they had crept in from the neighbouring meadow, as was Emma’s wish. When using such splendidly ornate tableware and stationery, as this, I love to juxtapose its formality with wild, light florals, to imbue youth and fluidity. We imported these special crockery and glassware rentals to perfectly realise the dream of this tablescape, an approach we often consider, to get our couples the very best. And that pop of rose pink in the taper candles? Just the unexpected sprinkle of contrast we needed to keep the whole feel contemporary.
The service was snappy, the food was delicious and many a laugh was had during speeches. Quite a few tears, too (some of them mine, following a beautiful mention from Adrian… gets me every time). So many guests, Irish and American alike, told us how they’d never experienced a wedding like this, such relaxed warmth and meticulousness in equal measure, in this very special setting… and that’s something we have in Ireland, quite uniquely.
The evening drew to its climax with music from Daft Pop (a brilliant new event band, helmed by Adrian’s brother); the perfect mix of slow and swinging and darn-right get-down tunes. There weren’t many, of any age, left at this glorious table after the sun went down.
As the band play their last floor-filler, guests retired to the adjoining bar, where guitars came out and rebel sing-songs became the perfect end to a perfect day. We were back on site the following morning, to vanish all traces of this magical day, while our couple and their guests enjoyed leisurely breakfasts and strolls through the woods.