From a Brides Perspective
I thought it would be interesting and hopefully helpful to hear from one of my brides and grooms on their experience of rescheduling their wedding, changing their venue and opting for a smaller, more intimate day. I first met Caoibhe when she was wedding coordinator at Lough Eske Castle in Donegal. She's helped lots of brides and grooms have the wedding day they dreamed of but when her turn came things didn't go quite as planned. Thank you to Caoibhe and Colin for sharing your story.
How was your smaller wedding?
Our small and intimate wedding was more special than we ever possibly thought our wedding day would be. We can honestly say that our imitate wedding day was one million times better than the original much larger wedding we had initially planned. It was the most perfect day in every single way. We had our nearest and dearest in attendance, our wonderful suppliers and we were blessed with the weather. It rained the entire day on our initial wedding date so everything happens for a reason. (you can read Caoibhe's thoughts on her 'would be' wedding day here)
How many guests did you have and how did you decide who to invite?
We had 47 guests including ourselves. We decided who to ask by starting with the most important guests being our immediate families, followed by our bridal party and their partners, godparents, flower girls & pageboy and their parents. We were then able to add one or two of our closest friends
to the list without offending other close friends that we could not ask for obvious reasons. We were blown away with how understanding and supportive all our family and friends were of our decision to go ahead with an imitate wedding. Other married couples even told us they wished they done the same instead of having 300 guests, so that alone speaks volumes.
Do you feel you missed out on anything that you had planned for your original wedding day?
We definitely do not feel that we missed out on any element that we had planned for the original wedding day. Yes, we did not have the option to have all the people that were on the initial wedding list but once you accept that is the case - the actually wedding day does not alter. You still have all the fun and important aspects of your wedding day albeit with a much smaller circle of people. When you sit back and think of what is the most important thing about your wedding day it should not be having
300 people there but rather the having the people you love the most there. Its all about the quality of your guests and not quantity.
Have you any other plans to celebrate when it is safe to do so?
Initially we did plan on having a larger celebration in 2021 but now that our smaller wedding has came and gone and we reflect on how amazing it was, we don't feel the need to have a larger event.
What advice would you give to any other couples in a similar situation?
Every couple is in a different situation. Some with siblings who live abroad and maybe cant get home and they would rather not get married than go ahead without them there. So its really hard to give advice that will suit every couple. One thing we will say is if you can, go ahead and get married on your original wedding date, or if you have already rescheduled go ahead on the new date regardless of the restrictions. I promise they won't regret it. I know loads of other couples that were in similar situations
to us and those than decided to get married in 2020 are extremely glad they did. None of them have said they wish they held off for another year. The stress alone of postponing constantly just takes away from the whole experience.
"At the end of your wedding day, if you and your fiancé are married then it was a success - the rest is
just a bonus."
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