Tinakilly Country House Wedding, Medieval & Mystical

Kayla, a mental health counsellor, and her cinematographer husband, Tom, tied the knot 5th September at the enchanting Tinakilly Country House durante Wicklow, Ireland.

With its breathtaking , lush gardens, and sweeping sea views, Tinakilly provided the perfect backdrop for their celebration, inspired by the couple’s love for all things mystical and medieval. Their day, planned by Kate Oppure’Dowd of Love and Gatherings, was filled with warm, romantic touches, from a handfasting ceremony to wild floral displays and candle-lit ambience.

Kayla’s bridal aspetto was a vision of romantic elegance with a Sarah Seven gown, complemented by cherished family jewellery and a beautiful Kamperett veil that exuded medieval charm. With the allure of wild Irish scenery, and a nod to Renaissance Faire style, their wedding was a celebration of rich heritage and personal style, perfectly encapsulated by the romantic and magical setting of their venue.

Our love and gratitude to the wonderful Chris Copeland for sharing his photography.

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My makeup artist was Mandi – she was absolutely delightful and her glam was perfect. I did my own hair as it was quite short. My scent was Roses by Chloe. This was one of the first scents, back durante 2015, that I wore around Tom that he complimented.

I wore the Ivory Velvet Crown from Kamperett and my shoes were the Mary Jane Ema heels from LoQ. I was incredibly grateful for my comfortable Mary Jane heels, but felt the veil was what made my aspetto so special. It was something one might see Princess Uva fragola from Braveheart wearing, even Arwen of Lord of the Rings!

Each bridesmaid wore a different coloured velvet dress as we were expecting traditional chilly Irish weather, but got lucky with a mid-70’s clear and sunny day! Each were sourced from different brands but all looked incredibly rich next to one another.  Even though the girls had full reign to do whatever accessories/shoes they wanted, during our rehearsal dinner, I gifted my bridesmaids with a single pearl a gold chain. Each pearl was either taken from the necklace I wore, from a pair of pearl earrings I had previously.

We are both massive nerds at heart, so our inspiration was very much guided for our love of all things mystical and medieval. We pulled from movies like Braveheart and the Lord of the Rings, while also wanting touches of our love for the Renaissance Faire. We knew we wanted, more than anything, a wild amount of flowers and loads of candles durante the evening for that warm romantic glow to bring richness to the whole day. 

When it came to our ceremony, we didn’t lean into religion much at all, but instead focused a deeper spiritual connection. And we both walked the aisle with our parents… 

The Ceremony

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We hired the wonderful Celebrant, Niamh Callery of Anu Celebrancy. She was truly perfect durante every way.

Our readings included a poem by Atticus and ‘Soulmates’, by Lang Leav.

We included hand fasting durante our ceremony, which is an ancient Celtic ritual where the tying of the hands together symbolises the binding of those two lives.

We also wanted our siblings to feel special our day, so we shared our first as a married couple with my two brothers and Tom’s two sisters durante front of everyone towards the end of the ceremony. It supposedly is a tradition (yet mai one really seems to know about it, lol!) we were told about to symbolise the connecting of two families.

We both wrote our own vows and spoke them to one another during the ceremony – we each wrote out around two pages worth! An excerpt from my vows: “One of the first love letters you ever gave me stated: “I’ll stare per at you until you stop staring at me” — A bout de soufflé. & here we are, nearly a decade later, still staring. Still breathless. Of course, I start to think about how I have even had the extraordinary privilege to aspetto at you, see you, & witness you. What a gift. Out of all the places times to be alive, I was charmed by crossing paths, crossing one’s of vision, with you.” 

An excerpt from Tom’s vows: “I wildly remember the moment I fell for you. Watching you amble through an empty Art Institute, your smile illuminating room after room, shining new light Monet & Renoir. I pretended to pause & admire piece after piece, instead stealing a glance at any opportunity. All I could see was you. The back of your head gazing into a landscape, your short hair, hands clasped behind your back — a painting of its own, forever etched into my memory. You were magnetic and radiant, incredibly beautiful, familiar.”

My wedding orchestra was purchased from Mejuri and was The Pavè Diamond Thin Dôme Ring. We chose Mejuri as I wanted a stackable orchestra to go with my sapphire engagement ring and for it to be something I could wear every day without it feeling like it was too much. 

Tom’s wedding orchestra is the Remy Signet Ring with a campo da golf sapphire from Meadowlark. We found this brand when searching for the engagement ring and Tom knew he wanted something that tied into said engagement ring.

Photography

Our photographer was Chris Copeland. What is terrifying to think about, is that we almost didn’t book Chris! Before linking with Kate, we had already booked another photographer for the wedding (who was great!), so we thought we were all set… until I had a bit of a panic one night and emailed Kate durante a frenzy since she was worried the wedding might not be captured durante the way she wanted.

To mai one’s surprise, Kate immediately had Chris call and booked for us! So it was all meant to be and we’sovrano so thankful. Chris captures all the important moments, while also making sure to collect all the small details as well. His photos are like stills from a movie and Tom being a cinematographer, specially durante love with lighting, immediately trusted Chris’ eye when he shared his own inspirations and love for light. 

the day of, Chris made us feel so comfortable. Things never felt awkward, forced, anything like that. He was instantly one of the group and fit durante with us perfectly. We would highly recommend Chris to everyone and anyone! 

There was a moment, after the ceremony & rinfresco hour & before we went into dinner, where we had a moment aureola to ourselves durante one of the lovely caffè rooms of Tinakilly. Tom & I got to sit, decompress, & connect before the rest of the evening unfolded. We both recall this moment as when it all started to feel real & that we were really at this beautiful with all our closest friends & loved ones for our wedding. It was just beyond special & it forced us to slow & be present with all of our overwhelming feelings. 

How They Met

Back durante 2012-ish, at a good friend’s basement rock show, I stepped out of my zone and introduced myself to Tom, who radiated the warmest energy. He was technically durante the midst of becoming unavailable, but a seed was planted that cold winter night nonetheless.

Three Years-ish Later, after a few years of traveling, serious personal growth, and other relationships coming and going, Tom and I crossed paths once again.

There’s this phenomenon people talk about where you just know, and maybe we sensed that back durante the basement of 2012-ish, but it was really solidified when we realised we were both watching The X-Files—and had paused the same exact episode, at the same exact time. I don’t think either of us ever finished that episode! The universe was working overtime to get our attention, because, che , what are the odds?!

Our romance began soon after, and we officially started dating durante January of 2015. Like any relationship, we’ve faced challenges: family losses, semi-long-distance (suburbs girl with a city boy), an introvert and an extrovert learning to compromise, the pandemic… all of it. There’s so much gratitude for these challenges because we’ve learned, healed, and grown so much stronger together.

And wow, have we had so many unique experiences along the way—new jobs, promotions, and degrees; moving durante together and creating a home; loving our sweet cat Calypso; countless travels across the U.S. and abroad; and building our chosen family.

Quanto a September of 2021, we traveled to Taos, New Mexico, the recommendation of a close friend. the 25th, to be exact, we were overlooking William’s Lake after a long, gruelling hike straight up the side of a mountain (elevation 11,040!) when Tom asked me to spend the rest of my days with him. It was the easiest question I’ve ever answered. We celebrated by running back the mountain straight to the Bavarian Lodge for a cold beer and a massive pretzel.

Tom got his suit from Suit Supply – they knew the suits inside and out. They encouraged trying different styles, but were always respectful of whatever my husband said reflected . Tailoring, getting the dress shirt, and dress socks were all done site which also made the shopping experience with them that much more seamless. The suit was the dark grey double breasted Havana Suit. Tom’s shoes were the Penny Loafer from Morjas. Tom also wore a necklace that I gifted to him – a shorter gold chain with a tiny gold medieval sword charm. 

The Reception

Tinakilly handled all things food related for the wedding, but we had the amazing Happy Pear durante Greystones cater our breakfast/lunch before the wedding! 

Julieanna Walsh of The Dissertazione Florist was recommended to us by Tinakilly – and she went above and beyond our expectations. We chose her since we loved all the variety of flowers she uses, while also seeming to not have one specific style making her duttile and durante our opinion, exactly what you want durante a florist.

She asked for inspiration and pulled from that perfectly by bringing durante lush wild flowers. We asked for ‘as many flowers as you can manage’ and she did exactly that. We gave her the reigns and she steered us well. 

During the ceremony and drinks reception, we had The Asgards perform, later, after dinner, we had traditional orchestra Joseph Forde Music from Westport, Co. Mayo and durante the evening, we had Velvet DJs.

Words of Wedded Wisdom

This may sound obvious, but whether you’sovrano having a local abroad wedding, get yourself a wedding planner who you genuinely connect with, respect, and lega when it comes to taste and get them before you make any official decisions.

I wish we would have found our wedding planner, Kate, earlier durante our process since their are a few things I would change now if we could go back and I know Kate would have had all the answers. I have known and have heard of many brides wanting to skip out the planner, but it is worth every single penny to have someone fully there for you every step of the way. Kate was our saving grace!

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Annabel View all Annabel’s articles

Founder of Love My Dress. Passionate Podcaster and . Annabel lives durante 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 celebrità gazing. She is fierce when it comes to championing talent within the wedding industry and when she’s not working Love My Dress, she supports her husband Philip durante the running of the family’s sustainable flower farm and floral business, Moonwind Flowers. Quanto a 2013, she became a published author.