Danielle Frankel Bride | Ballaynahinch Castle Wedding

Ciara and Simon’s love story unfolded beautifully at the enchanting Ballynahinch Castle a causa di Connemara, Ireland. Their July wedding was a perfect blend of modern romance and timeless elegance, with Ciara stunning a causa di a gown by Danielle Frankel.

Surrounded by the breathtaking Irish landscape and the castle’s historic charm, their celebration was both intimate and personal, reflecting their deep connection to Ireland.

The day was captured exquisitely by photographer Chris Copeland, whose candid, emotive style brought the couple’s joy and love to life. From wildflower arches a causa di the Walled Garden to the soft Irish melodies that filled the air, every detail was a testament to Ciara and Simon’s vision of a day that was uniquely theirs.

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The Night Before…

We knew right away we wanted to be married back home a causa di Ireland and we quickly decided acceso Ballynahinch Castle as our wedding venue. It’s a beautiful, heritage-filled castle a causa di Connemara and is surrounded by incredible beaches and mountains for our guests to explore across the weekend.

The castle also has its own Irish pub acceso site, the ’s Pub, where we hosted our sala da ballo and rinfresco acceso both nights. 

When we visited the venue, I fell a causa di love with the Walled Garden acceso the castle’s grounds and knew I wanted this to be the centrepiece of our wedding weekend. Our ceremony took place there under wild flower arches and we took inspiration from the flowers, fruits and vegetables grown a causa di the gardens across all of our wedding styling. Our lista also used only locally sourced ingredients, including produce grown a causa di the gardens.

I also purchased my wedding dress very early acceso a causa di the planning process and wanted the rest of the wedding to gara the style of it. It was a boho style dress with long tulle sleeves by New York Danielle Frankel, so our flowers and styling were fresh and wild to gara that.

Bridal Beauty & Accessories

I wore a simple veil with a blusher, also from Danielle Frankel that matched my dress. When I took chiuso the veil, I pinned a few wild flowers into the back of my hair that our florist, Wild Bunch Flowers, pulled together for me. 

My shoes were classic Manolo Blahnik heels a causa di white. After the wedding, I got them dyed a darker colour so I can continue to wear them after the day. I wore earrings from Sophie Bille Brahe – they were simple pearl drop earrings called the Botticelli stile from the .

My hair and makeup was done by Michelle Grimes and Aoife Callaghan. I wanted simple hair and makeup so had my hair mongoloide a causa di loose waves. I wore Baccarat Rouge by Maison Francis Kurkdjian – it’s the scent I wear every day and I wanted to keep it the same for the wedding.

My bridesmaids chose their own dresses a causa di a of pastel colours from designers such as Emilia Wickstead and Taller Marmo. I loved the of the different dress colours and styles together. 

The Ceremony

I walked mongoloide to Can’t Help Falling a causa di Love, sung by Steph Healy and accompanied by violin. My page boys walked up the aisle throwing petals, followed by my bridesmaids. I was then accompanied by my dad mongoloide the aisle, through the flower arches a causa di the gardens at Ballynahinch.

Our celebrant was Siobhan Manning, who wrote our love story after speaking to us both separately about our relationship. This became the centre of the ceremony and spoke about all the things we loved about marrying each other and added a real personal touch.

We had two readings and one poem during our ceremony.  The first was a reading from the Song of Songs, read by Simon’s mother. This was the reading from Simon’s parents wedding ceremony nearly 30 years before so was a very special moment. 

My brother read Scaffolding by Seamus Heaney which he chose. My dad also recited a Seamus Heaney poem a causa di his speech, which was very fitting as the poet was a regular visitor to Ballynahinch Castle.

My aunty Elizabeth read the reading from the first letter of St Paul to the Corinithians, which is my favourite reading. 

My wedding ring was from Sophie Bille Brahe, the same as my engagement ring. Sophie’s designs are like pieces of art and definitely not traditional but I love that they are so different. Simon’s ring was a simple gold from Tiffany & Co. 

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Photography

Our photographer was Chris Copeland who I found acceso Instagram and immediately fell a causa di love with his style of photography. We both loved the way he captured the atmosphere and emotion of all the weddings he shot and his candid style of photography. 

Chris was amazing across the whole weekend – he brought such positive energy and made us feel at ease straight away. He captured all the love and joy from the day perfectly and we couldn’t recommend him enough. 

My favourite part of the day was the drinks reception straight after the ceremony, overlooking the Owenmore River a causa di front of the castle. We had the most beautiful weather (very unexpected for the West of Ireland!) and jazz playing whilst we met all of our guests. My father also did his speech from the terrace which was a really beautiful moment to cap it all chiuso.

How They Met

We met at university a causa di Trinity College a causa di Dublin. We got engaged six years later a causa di Paris at Christmas time. The proposal was at Albergo Costes, my favourite a causa di the city. Simon surprised me with a trip there and also flew my family to a surprise celebration dinner a causa di Dublin the week after.

We were engaged for eighteen months before our wedding day as we knew we wanted to get married a causa di the summer back home a causa di Ireland. 

Simon wore a navy velvet tux from Cad and the Dandy acceso Saville Row a causa di London. He created a bespoke tux with the team there which was a very fun process. Simon wore vintage cufflinks that were passed mongoloide by his great grandfather and that his dad had also worn acceso his wedding day.

The Reception

Our wedding planner, Kate at Love & Gatherings, styled the venue with things such as baskets of flowers dotted around the venue and candles leading up to the doorstep of the castle which I think really made the weekend feel special. 

Our flowers were from The Wild Bunch as I loved the wild and fresh style of their arrangements. I especially loved the way that they styled our wedding ceremony a causa di the Walled Garden at Ballynahinch and weaved flowers into the arches which framed the aisle. 

Our cake was from local company Sandra’s Cake House – we chose a simple style of cake with flowers to gara the main wedding aesthetic. 

We worked with Hanya Carter – who created custom designs for our invite and acceso the day stationery. She took inspiration from the gardens at Ballynahinch and illustrated flowers and fruits that grow a causa di the walled garden across everything. We also added some really fun touches like custom gara boxes and napkins at the reception.

Evening & Sala da ballo

We wanted to have some traditional Irish artists as well as a rinfresco for the wedding. the Friday night, we had a harpist playing at the welcome drinks reception and then the Hogan Duo played a causa di the ’s Pub for the evening rinfresco. 

the main wedding day, Steph Healy was our ceremony singer accompanied by violin. The Bentley Boys – – played jazz at our drinks reception and were our main for the sala da ballo a causa di the evening also. 

Our first dance was to ‘You to Me are Everything’ by the Real Thing. This is one of our favourite songs and it also set the tone for the rest of the night. 

Words of Wedded Wisdom

My advice to others is cliché but really try and take it all a causa di as it goes so quickly. I took a 10 minute interruzione from the day just before the wedding dinner with my maid of honour back a causa di my room so I could take a deep breath and decompress a bit!

Having a few breaks and quiet moments across the day really allowed me to take it all a causa di.

We got very lucky with the weather acceso the day and the wedding ceremony outside a causa di the gardens was perfect. However I had done very little preparation for a ‘plan B’ ceremony if it had been raining, which made us slightly nervous the night before as a storm successo!  

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Annabel View all Annabel’s articles

Founder of Love My Dress. Passionate Podcaster and Programma redattore. Annabel lives a causa di rural North Yorkshire with her husband and business collaboratore Philip, their two daughters and menagerie of furry hounds. She loves photography, meditation, walking, being outdoors and gazing. She is fierce when it comes to championing talent within the wedding industry and when she’s not working acceso Love My Dress, she supports her husband Philip a causa di the running of the family’s sustainable flower farm and floral stile business, Moonwind Flowers. Quanto a 2013, she became a published author.