A NI couple have shared an insight into their beautiful wedding day.
Derry woman Cara Conway (28) and husband Sean Kerlin (34), who is from Aughabrack in Co Tyrone, got married on September 2, 2022.
In our weekly feature Inside My Wedding, couples are delving into their special day to give bride and grooms-to-be some top tips.
Read more: Inside My Wedding: NI couple's ceremony and reception at The Mill, Ballydugan
The pair had their service at St Mary's Church in Altinure before their reception at Jackson's Hotel in Donegal.
The accountant and farmer say they always knew each other growing up, with Cara telling Be: "I used to be friends with Sean's sister. (I always thought he was so old!)
"Then we met one night in a local bar and the rest is history."
Cara has told us all about their big day!
Tell us all about your wedding day!
Our big day was the best of craic from start to finish. We did nothing but laugh! We got married in St Mary's, Altinure and headed straight to Jackson's Hotel for our reception. We stayed in Jackson's for our second day and even had a third day back in our local bar in Park.
How did you begin planning your wedding?
We started first with finding a date that suited the farmers which was a hard task! We settled on September and booked the venue. Everything else fell into place from there.
How did you decide on your venue?
We viewed a couple of venues, and they were all stunning - what it came down to was what suited our guests the most. We had 380 guests invited so we wanted somewhere spacious for such a large number. Jackson's have an amazing ball room with two bars! We also wanted a venue that would host our second day and Jackson's have the nicest wee bar called the Thirsty Trout which had us sold when we seen it.
Tell us all about your wedding dress, bridesmaid dresses & suits!
I got my wedding dress in Verona Bridal - the second shop I had visited. They were fab and knew me better than I know myself! I'm someone that goes OTT in everything, so I wanted an OTT dress. They chose a La Premiere dress that had a detachable overskirt, so it felt like I was getting two looks in one! I knew straight away it was the one. The overskirt came off and I took my hair down and added winged veils for a different look in the evening. I loved it so much and I'm planning to get it cut up into a midi dress soon!
The bridesmaid dresses were the hardest to choose. I always wanted white bridesmaids, so I had the colour sorted but finding a dress that suited five girls was very difficult, so I didn't! I chose five different dresses from Jarlo London to suit each of my beautiful bridesmaids. I hadn't seen them all together until the day of the wedding, so I wasn't sure how it was going to look but the girls looked unreal. I also had five different flower bouquets for each of the girls which I think broke it all up perfectly. These were done by Farmgirl Florals who was amazing.
The suits were from Esquire in Derry, the easiest shopping trip ever! Suited and booted in less than an hour and that was it. The men scrubbed up well too.
What was the best part in the build-up to your day?
All the shopping trips here and there - enjoy every run out! Even the shopping trips with Sean were enjoyable and that's saying something. The nights out were brilliant too and we fitted in as many as we possibly could, from hen/stag parties to pre-wedding parties.
The week before the wedding was the best craic with everyone calling to the house, the wedding rehearsal and running to all the beauty appointments. I made sure that I had everything sorted so that I could enjoy every second of the week before. Me and Sean even went for a pint in Jackson's the day before the wedding as we dropped off the suitcases!
What was the best moment of your day and your other favourite parts?
I literally loved every moment - it's so hard to choose! The whole ceremony, from walking up the aisle to how personal it was, are definitely up there with my favourite parts. We headed to a wee country house in Park to get our photos and it was brilliant with all of our bridal party together. This was the only time we were able to get during the whole day where it was just us and the bridal party.
The drinks reception was brilliant craic too, we had the best singer called Daniel Ferguson who had the whole place up dancing at like 4pm. Walking into the reception was hilarious, Sean flung me over his shoulders to ACDC! We also had a singing waiter who was amazing! He came straight after the desserts which I think brought everyone around from a big meal. We never stopped laughing.
What would you tell other bride and grooms to plan first & what are your top tips?
Definitely get your date secured and your venue - everything else will fall into place.
My top tip would be to spend a bit of time researching your photographer and videographer as they are going to be with you for most of the day. We had the best two (Lisa McConalogue and Feather & Wolf) who were unreal the whole day. We did nothing but laugh with them and they made everything so easy. I was out dancing with Lisa and Stephen at the end of the night!
What were the hardest parts to plan?
TABLE PLAN! I would advise to get that out of the way as soon as - and there will be so many changes but even if you have a rough idea, it's somewhere to start. It wasn't even that difficult but it was probably the most annoying thing to do.
Did you have a theme?
We didn't have a theme or anything - we just wanted a wedding full of good craic and that's what we had. We wanted people to enjoy every single moment from the ceremony to the DJ at the end of the night. Me and Sean are the most laid back people and we wanted our wedding to be the same.
Would you do anything different?
I wouldn't change anything, everything fell into place so well.
I worried a bit about walking up the aisle, but that was one of my favourite parts of the day - seeing everyone there for us and seeing Sean at the altar ready to get hitched!
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Do you want to tell us all about your wedding day? Email be@belfastlive.co.uk for your chance to be featured.
