If you’re looking for winter wedding inspiration that’s filled with modern bridal glamour, a fresh festive feel and that kind of effortless chic vibe, you’re in just the right place today. Real wedding couple Shannon & Perry’s gorgeous winter wedding took place just four days before Christmas and it’s filled the the brim with celebratory holiday cheer, sweet sentimental moments and tons of contemporary glittering elegance.
The location for their winter celebration was The Millhouse in Slane, which boasts the industrial Old Mill ceremony space, as well as the blank canvas Pavillion reception space that allowed the couple to express themselves with a fun, relaxed and elegant wedding.
The couple leaned into both their alternative venue’s industrial and Manor House elements and went for an elevated clean and classic festive wedding look with their decor and styling indoors, while outdoors, they embraced the stunning architectural details for their romantic winter wedding portraits. Aidan Beatty Photography beautifully documented the day, from getting ready in the chic bridal suite, to the dazzling last dance. Let’s take a look…
Groom Perry hails from Aberdeen and bride Shannon from Belfast, where the pair are currently based. The couple met in North Carolina in 2016, when they both went to work at a summer camp as part of the Camp America program. The bride fills us in, “I lived in Scotland at the time as I was attending uni in Edinburgh, so my mum loves to joke that I ‘went all the way to America to meet a Scottish man’. We clicked instantly, and we loved our time at camp so much that we went back the following summer as a couple.”
The proposal happened while the pair were on a romantic trip to Paris, which Perry surprised Shannon with. “Perry surprised me with a trip to Paris – a city that we both love and means a lot to us as we spent some time there at the start of our relationship when I was living in France for my year abroad. We spent the day sightseeing and he wanted to wait until the Eiffel Tower was sparkling to pop the question. As it was the height of summer, this didn’t happen until 11pm, so any suspicions I might have had had totally disappeared by that time. He absolutely smashed it. My engagement ring is a redesign of an old ring that belonged to my gran – it’s a really perfect blend of old and new and is more beautiful than any ring I could ever have picked.”
Once it came to planning the big day, the pair knew they wanted a winter celebration, and one that reflected them as a couple, “and that it was fun and a little different to (in the least disrespectful way possible) a ‘run-of-the mill’ wedding that people have come to expect. We wanted the day to be like a really personal and elevated festive party that everyone could enjoy.”
And the perfect venue for their festive celebration? The wonderful The Millhouse in Slane, which they found while planning their wedding on One Fab Day. Shannon says, “we found our venue on One Fab Day – we were looking for venues in Ireland that had a particularly nice ceremony space, as we weren’t keen on having all the parts of our day in one room. As soon as we saw the old mill at The Millhouse, with that unbelievable chandelier, we were sold. We visited the venue in August 2022 and set our date that day, we didn’t view anywhere else. It was perfect – so stunning and felt really intimate but also very relaxed, which suited us. We both could visualise it so clearly as soon as we visited.”
The bride adds, “as an added bonus, the team was incredible and made us feel so at ease – so it was a real no-brainer.”
Shannon’s jawdropping wedding gown is by the Ukrainian bridal label WONÁ Concept which she sourced at Forever Bridal. The dreamy overskirt paired with the off-shoulder neckline is simply gorgeous. And don’t even get us started on the sparkle!
She accessoried with pearl embellished heels from ASOS and glitzy drop earrings from Liberty In Love. An elegant, long-stemmed rose bridal bouquet by Fernwood Flowers completed her elegant winter bride look.
Shannon also wore her mum’s veil from the 80s as her “something old”, and a pair of diamond studs borrowed from her godmother for her “something borrowed”. Her “something new” was her dress and her “something blue” was a forget me not charm attached to her bouquet, in honour ofher late Aunt and Uncle.
Paying homage to his roots, Perry and his groomsmen all rocked tartan kilts from Georgian Dress Hire in Aberdeen. The couple’s nephews Ben and Jack looked utterly adorable as page boys in their matching tartan bowties.
Shannon’s bridesmaids wore sparkling champagne bridesmaids dresses which the bride found at Quiz. Her sister wore a matching dress but in a navy colourway so as to stand out as her Maid of Honour.
The couple look back fondly on their ceremony. “We planned our whole humanist ceremony to be really personal with our amazing celebrant Emer Dillon – we did the handfasting ceremony with ties belonging to my late Granda, we chose personal songs and readings, we wrote personal vows to exchange on our 1 year paper anniversary.”
The couple’s friend Karissa also sang all the songs at the ceremony and they had photos of late loved ones displayed in their ceremony space. “My friend Karissa sang a mash-up of Caledonia and Fairytale of New York when we signed the register – which are two songs we both adore, so that felt very special.”
They picked some immensely romantic ceremony readings. One of Sannon’s best friends read an excerpt from Everything I Know About Love by Dolly Alderton, one of Perry’s best friends read a poem by The Wandering Paddy, while their past boss from Camp America read Wedding Poem by Whitney Hanson.
The couple dreamed of a winter wedding day that was utterly classic and timeless with a navy, white and gold colour palette. “Aesthetic wise – we wanted it to be classic and wintery, and not too over the top Christmassy, even though we were getting married 4 days before Christmas day! I feel like we struck a nice balance with this. As it was sparkly, my dress was quite statement so I kept the rest of the colour palettes and details quite minimalist so it wasn’t too busy. Apart from my bridesmaids, who also wore embellished dresses – my sister had the same dress but in a deep navy to make her stand out as my Maid of Honour. But the flowers were all white, and the stationery and decor were very classic and minimalist. Perry chose the kilts and they complimented the bridesmaids perfectly. Our main colours were white, navy and gold which I feel are quite timeless without being the typical Christmas colours”.
“In terms of vibe – it was pure joy from start to finish. It was intimate and personal but also really relaxed. I think the venue and also the suppliers we chose all worked together so well to create this atmosphere”.
“We wanted our wedding to feel a bit different for our guests and not be too predictable, so we were really intentional with our personal touches and made sure everything was true to our taste, rather than what we felt we were expected to do/have as part of our day.”
Shannon adds, “I definitely spent a lot of time on Pinterest and TikTok – but I tried really hard to focus on our taste, rather than get too overwhelmed by all the trends”.
The couple’s reception in the The Millhouse wedding pavilion was a demure and dazzling affair with sparkling details in a palette of navy, white and gold.
Not only does our bride have impeccable taste, she’s also super talented too, creating lots of DIYs and decor elements for their day including all their paper goods from invites,menus and place names to welcome signs and personalised newspapers.
For favours, the couple chose chocolate lollipops handmade and handtied by incredABLE-y Made trainees. incredABLEy Made provides people with a learning disability and/or autism the opportunity to acquire skills that will assist them in their pathway to further work based learning and employment. incredABLE-y made, through its day opportunities, offers vital creative, meaningful and transferable job skills in print, production or packaging; in a real social enterprise environment.
Baked By Corri created the show-stopping pearl encusted cake.
Shannon & Perry’s top tips for couples planning their big day? “Don’t get overwhelmed by social media trends – stick to your gut and what you love. Don’t get bogged down too much by other people’s opinions or expectations – your day should be a true reflection of you as a couple otherwise you won’t enjoy it. I saw a quote online while planning that said ‘you’re not the hosts, you’re the guests of honour’ and I think that’s a really helpful way to reframe it. There will be disappointments along the way, that’s inevitable – but focus on yourselves, remember why you’re getting married, and give your energy to the people that make you feel best.” They add, “it’s all worth it in the end!”.
The pair chose the sweet lyrics of Lover by Taylor Swift as their first dance song. The bride tells us, “I am a huge Swiftie – we had a lyric from Lover on our table plan, and I walked down the aisle to Wildest Dreams by Taylor Swift played on strings by The Cellists”.
As for their honeymoon, the couple jetted off to New York City after their celebrations. “We flew to NYC the morning after our day 2 party. It was intense organising this alongside the wedding but so worth it. It extended our wedding bubble and was so exciting, New York is magical anyway but it felt even more so spending Christmas and New Year there as newlyweds. We’re hoping to milk it and plan a sunny trip soon too!”.
A huge congratulations to Shannon & Perry and thank you for sharing your magical The Millhouse wedding with One Fab Day. A special thanks Aidan Beatty Photography for the exceptional images, you can see even more in the gallery below.
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