Joined by 180 of their loved ones on a beautiful summer day, Sorcha and Conor tied the knot in timeless and wonderfully personal style. Gloster House set the spectacular stage for their breathtaking celebration which was brought to life with the help of so many of our favourite One Fab Day recommended suppliers. You’re about to be swooning non-stop over over all the details.
Blue is Sorcha’s favourite colour so that was a key driver for the beautiful palette of their summer wedding and they opted for a black-tie style and classically romantic decor. There were simply too many gorgeous personal touches to count. Hint: Many involved the groom’s love for The Lord of the Rings. Their joyful celebration was elegantly captured by fine art photographer Claire Brown of Studio Brown, we are so excited for you to experience all the magic.
Their invitations were created by the SoloART by Natalia Sliusar. From the Ukraine and now living in Ireland, Natalia had never designed wedding invitations before their wedding and the suite exuded timeless elegance. “We found her art online and reached out to her to see if she’d give invitations a go. She went above and beyond and even made the envelopes by hand with a little picture of our cat Dora so she’d be included in the wedding! Natalia’s work was absolutely incredible and she was a joy to deal with.”
We know you’re wondering about their love story, we’re so happy to divulge the lovely details. Conor is from Dublin and Sorcha is from Donegal and they met 10 years while they were on an internship. Sorcha explains, “We were placed right beside each other on the list from day one and put on the same presentation team. We’ve been a team ever since. A photo was taken of us all on our first day – Conor is down on one knee right in front of me before we had even properly spoken. I’m a big believer in fate, so loves this fact, whereas Conor thinks it’s just a very happy coincidence.”
Conor is a huge Lord of the Rings fan and Sorcha gifted him custom cufflinks made from pages from his favourite book.
Conor planned the engagement for months but he could not find the perfect opportunity to pop the question. “Sorcha kept booking in weekends with friends and agreeing to social events and couldn’t understand why we needed to keep them free. I cancelled two hotel reservations and one lovely dinner before accepting that Sorcha isn’t one for leaving the diary open! The engagement ring sat at the bottom of my gym bag for nearly six months – this was the one place I knew Sorcha would never go near and I was right.”
Every second of the wait was worth it. After months of planning he proposed in beautifully intimate style on Christmas Eve 2023. He reflects, “The two of us were at home on the sofa watching Christmas films. We were having a nightcap drink before bed to ring in Christmas when I decided to get down on one knee. It just felt like the right time and as impromptu as it was, it couldn’t have been more perfect.”
The Wicklow-based couple dreamt of a classic and romantic summer wedding with a relaxed so their loved ones could unwind and soak up the magic. “The main thing we wanted was for everyone to enjoy the weekend and for the love and joy of the day to shine through and it absolutely lived up to expectations.”
Planning their special day all began with finding the perfect venue! As they had family and friends joining them from all over Ireland and others travelling from abroad they wanted to find somewhere easily accessible for all, particularly as Conor’s grandparents are in their nineties. The next priority was the food Sorcha explains, “I am vegetarian and was keen on having the veggie/vegan option be every bit as good as the meat dishes. Our caterers, Green Olive, were outstanding and we couldn’t have been happier with the food on the day.”
Sorcha’s ‘something borrowed’ was her beautiful white bridal robe from her cousin Lisa which is becoming a sweet tradition as it has been worn by two brides in the family already with another lined up. She also wore jewellery that belonged to her late grandmothers, a pearl broach from one and a gold bracelet from the other.
Sorcha was sensationally chic wearing a lustrous ivory silk Katherine Tash gown which she sourced at The White and Gold which she accessorised with Dune heels and a royal length veil edged in lace. “The rest of my accessories were gifts from Conor over the years, including a pearl necklace from MoMuse and earrings from One Dame Lane.”
They tell us more about curating their aesthetic, “It wasn’t something we started out with but something that we started to build over time once we’d found our venue. We loved the idea of a classic, romantic summer wedding, a venue with character but also somewhere that felt like us. Once we found Gloster and picked the bridesmaids’ dresses, it made sense to us to go with colours that complemented these, so ended up with a palette of light summer blues, whites and yellows.”
Sorcha devised a sweet plan to help calm Conor’s nerves at the top of the aisle and to set the joyful tone for the day. She explains, “I decided it’d be a brilliant idea to play a joke on him before I walked down the aisle. The plan was always to walk down to Boston by Mick Flannery, which ultimately I did, but without Conor knowing I had arranged with our ceremony musicians Niamh and Daithi to play Concerning Hobbits just as I was about to come down the aisle instead. The look of confusion and panic on Conor’s face thinking the musicians had gotten it wrong, quickly replaced with laughter when he realised it was deliberate, was priceless. Our videographer captured it perfectly and the whole room got a kick out of it before the ceremony stated!
“We were so lucky with this one, so many of our friends and family helped out and it just made the wedding so special because of it,” they share.
“We didn’t want to make anyone nervous about performing, so relied on the fabulous Niamh and Daithi to be our ceremony musicians.” They both come from musical families and they asked Sorcha’s sister Eilís, bridesmaid Shauna and Conor’s sister Aine if they’d like to sing one song together. They gave a spellbinding rendition of Dreams by The Cranberries. “They were absolutely incredible. They just sounded so beautiful together and the whole place erupted in applause as soon as they’d finished.”
Gloster House was the first venue that they visited and they and we knew from the moment they arrived that nothing else would compare. “Some people have a ‘Yes to the Dress’ moment, well we had a ‘Yes to the Venue’ moment instead! From the gorgeous interiors to the fabulous ceremony space and gardens, it ticked every box for us. Ireland is so unreliable with the weather so we wanted a venue that was just as beautiful indoors as outdoors and Gloster really was ‘it’ for us. We also loved the idea of having the venue entirely to ourselves for the weekend and not disturbing any one too, so that was another plus! And one of the main reasons we picked Gloster was because of the people who own and run it. Nigel, Mary and Tom, the owners, are just the loveliest people and made all the wedding planning so seamless. You can tell how much love they’ve poured into restoring Gloster House and it just felt like the perfect fit for us.”
A moment for the incredibly chic mother of the bride and groom!
The couple found their photographer Claire Brown on Instagram for a while and they have always loved her bright and airy style of photography. “Claire has such an eye for detail and when we got engaged, we got on to her as soon as we had the venue and date booked to make sure she was free! She has such a way of capturing weddings and brought a calm, relaxed vibe on the day. Absolutely one of the best decisions we made was having Claire with us for our wedding.”
Sorcha’s bridesmaids were her ‘something blue’ which is one of the sweetest way to incorporate the wedding tradition. “I gave the bridesmaids my colour scheme and each picked their own outfit. I wanted them to feel comfortable on the day and more importantly to feel like themselves. Their outfits came from Boss, Coast and ASOS.”
Conor purchased his immensely elegant tux at The Grooms Room. “Can’t recommend them enough, Conor had a brilliant time picking out his suit over a few beers with them!”
Sorcha’s wedding ring was from Bespoke Diamonds while Conor’s was a Chupi design.
They held their drinks reception in front of the elegant manor house and the beverages included delicious craft beer from Hope Brewery in Dublin, Kinnegar Brewery in Donegal and Wicklow Wolf Brewery which included a nod to both their home counties. “They were all brilliant to work with and not to mention their brewery tours!”
While their celebration was decidedly modern there entertainment had a vintage slant. “Our reception was backed by the cool vibes of The Gramophone Social – the retro music really suited the tone and style of Gloster House.”
Mary Alexander, the owner of Gloster House, guided them every step of the way in bringing the wedding day of their dreams to life. “She has the most incredible eye and helped with styling the ceremony and reception spaces with florals, candles and lanterns. Nigel Alexander, her son, took on the role of wedding planner – nothing was too much of an ask, right down to superglue, umbrellas, cups of tea and late night sparklers.”
Their signage was by Appleberry Atelier and the couple designed their menus and table plan. “The team at We Do Printing in Wicklow were superb, advising us on paper and printing styles before turning the whole order around in a couple of days!”
A lover of all thing arts and crafts, Sorcha wanted to decoupage recycled wine bottles in blue and white for the table décor and table numbers to match the colour scheme. “It was a project and a half but with a lot of patience and trial and error, we were delighted with how they turned out! Our family and friends ‘helped’ us gather enough bottles – excellent prep for the weekend! 29Design by Courteney then supplied the labels to finish off the bottles.”
They kept the tablescape styling minimal with bud vases and candles on the tables. “Gloster House was such a wow venue itself, we wanted that to be the main focus.”
For their place cards they printed out polaroid photos of themselves with each of their guests. “Everyone loved it and took the polaroids home with them!”
They tried to compromise on the cake front as Sorcha is a huge fan of cheese while Conor has a sweet tooth. “We ended up with two cakes (not much of a compromise), a traditional cake courtesy of Coolbaun Cakes and a ‘Cheesecake’ from The Wild Grazer.”
Their toppers were adorable in very different ways as they had a beautiful polaroid photo of them for the top of their cake while Sorcha’s friend Niamh made a bride and groom mouse topper for the cheese tower. “She’s incredibly talented, they’re one of our favourite keepsakes from the wedding.”
Sorcha’s godfather Mike is the family expert on wine and he helped plan their wedding wine. They even took a trip to France on the ferry which was one of their wedding planning highlights. “Special mention to all the friends and family who joined our wine tastings in the lead up! And then Sorcha made the table decor out of the empty wine bottles so again, they really are the unsung heroes of this story.”
“All of our guests looked incredible,” they reminisce and we have to wholeheartedly agree. Smashing style all around! While they didn’t hire any transport suppliers they gave a special thank you to David Bergin for the late night shuttles!
After seeing their dream day in all its spectacular glory we were curious to know what their wedding tips were. They say, “Remember to enjoy it. We’d heard that wedding planning can be stressful but that wasn’t our experience at all. Having good suppliers was key, people you could trust to look after your day and guide you in the lead up. A big thing for us was making date nights or events out of wedding tasks. Trip to France for the wedding wine, trip to Galway for the food tasting, brewery tours, dinner parties disguised as wine research, craft days to make the wedding decor, etc. And every now and again when the To Do List got a bit much, we’d park the planning for a while and come back to it when we were excited about it again.”
They gave back with their wedding favours which were donations to three charities – Unicef, Women’s Aid and The Cat and Dog Protection Association.
Their first dance paid a sweet homage to their love story as they chose Shut Up and Dance with Me by Walk the Moon. “It was the song of the summer when we first met in 2015 and it’s been our song ever since. We actually did a few dance lessons in the lead up to the wedding and while we were sceptical at the start, it was such a brilliant decision. We weren’t dreading the first dance, we actually couldn’t wait for it then! For anyone with two left feet (like Sorcha claims to have) it took all the anxiety away from the first dance and we ended up having a lot of fun with it.”
Music was their final key priority. “There’s always a fear of an empty dancefloor! Thankfully our band and DJ were brilliant and we had nothing to worry about, all of our guests had a ball. They can attest to the fact that Pink Champagne Wedding Band really do fill dancefloors. “The guys were so much fun to deal with and kept the party going all night. We were able to enjoy and let Cathal and the guys set the party alight with their fantastic ability to read the crowd.” Then Darren of Sax Appeal kept the party going until the small hours of the morning. “We really wanted something different for the night and his phenomenal saxophone really elevated the late night antics! We knew we’d made the right call when even Conor’s 92-year-old gran was out dancing, wearing a crown of glow sticks, till well after midnight.”
They celebrated their exciting new chapter with a honeymoon on the Greek island of Crete. “We wanted somewhere easy to travel to after the wedding and somewhere we could relax and recover once the tiredness kicked in. It was the perfect holiday and exactly what we needed after the wedding weekend, we felt completely recharged after the week away. Next summer we’re planning a bigger trip to South Africa for a safari which has given us something else to look forward to now that the wedding is over.”
We would like to thank the couple Sorcha and Conor as well as Claire Brown of Studio Brown for allowing us to share this beautiful Gloster House wedding with us! To view more of the photos, take a look at the gallery below!
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