An Intimate Destination Micro-Wedding at Roundwood House
When Karly & Ian approached me to plan a twenty-person nuptial gathering that they wanted to feel “more like a dinner party in an awesome house than a wedding”… well, lads, I was in. I began by pitching five exquisite but chilled private hire country houses and each option would have been adorable… though, I must say, I was thoroughly excited that my lovely clients vibed most with Roundwood House. The interior palette alone had me dying to work here, for many a year, but its petite event capacity had meant that it just wasn’t in the running for any of my other couples.
The first site visit gave me quite a few more reasons to love this place. Initially, there was, perfect coffee and, quite simply, the best flapjack I’ve ever had, which I took as a sign that the food would be very good (a metric which has never failed me & certainly did not, this time). Then there was the woodshed. Now, if you’ve (which, of course you have) seen that episode of Friends, The One with Ross’s Wedding in the ruined church, you’ll have been romanticising the bejesus out of places like this for (vomit) twenty five years… luckily, Karly & Ian were right on that boat with me and were all over doing their ceremony here. The plan was not to transform it into something new; we loved every woody, blustery, mossy, stoney bit of it… all this lovely place ever needed was, stunning florals (Wild Bunch Tina: check), twinkly pillar candles and a few well-placed chairs. When the question arose over whether guests might be a little chilly here, on an October afternoon, I simply answered “warm apple cider and lap blankets” and the case was closed.
And this ceremony gave me every drop of the feels I expected it would (whinging wedding planner, just out of shot). Between the scent of that cider, the organic aural honey brought by The Whileaways, the couple’s friend Michael officiating, the pure love every guest had for the very happy couple, and how the beams of light shone in at exactly the points I’d hoped they would, when I marked the position for the floral arch, it was one of those moments whose perfection you can’t even really capture (though, I must say, Pawel did a pretty great job at it)… I can only imagine how Karly and Ian felt, after so many months of dreaming.
One of the many reasons why I love this couple: they stayed back after the ceremony to exchange their vows in private. No fanfare, no gimmicks for the photographer’s sake or playing to the crowd, just sincerity.
Dinner happened in the library, a wonderfully cosy, stove-heated space, separate to the main house, which means that after dinner is served, guests have this gorgeous feeling of being in their own place… and surrounded by the family’s treasured books, which always makes for the best atmosphere. The aesthetic for the dining space and tablescape was sumptuous and still earthy, mixing velvet smokey tablecloths, our signature hand-blown glass candlesticks, with custom rattan placemats, floral patterned side plates, the softest gauze napkins and a classic bentwood chair. The stationery, by Keady Row, effortlessly connected the style dots, combining modern design with that floral motif and a lovely mixed paper palette. While the florals carried that woodshed aesthetic through to this space (well, literally speaking, it was Tina who, ever the trooper, actually carried the ceremony backdrop in here) with the utmost romaticism.
When the meal (which, by all accounts, was exquisite) was done, guests toddled back through the courtyard, to the main house, where The Whileaways (with the new addition of a double basest), upped the tempo, for singlongs and a bit of an aule dance, in the drawing room. Cake was cut, twirls were had, and by the sound of spirits, when I eventually signed off, the craic was indeed mighty. As I often am, I was sad to see this pair go, but the job satisfaction, on the way back to Dublin, was brimming… to have seen Karly and Ian enjoy every single moment of this day, vividly and gratefully. What it’s all about, kids!