Looking for breathtaking bespoke bridal inspiration? It doesn’t get better than Anna and Tom‘s wedding at the always magical Horetown House. We are always so delighted to feature the celebrations of creatives who work in the wedding industry and Anna is the brains behind the bridal brand Anna Darcy Couture and not only did she make her own dream gown but the dresses for her bridesmaids too.
On a glorious sunny day in May, the Navan-based couple were joined by 80 of their cherished ones for their country house wedding which was fun, laid-back, colourful and summery. With a palette driven by the couple’s favourite colours, pink and orange, the details are downright divine including a playful honeycomb balls ceremony arch and uber-chic neon signage. The couple celebrated their day, their way, they even arrived at the aisle together. Photographer Berit Alits captured every moment of magic exquisitely, enjoy!
So let’s begin by getting to know a little more about our fabulous couple. Anna who is from Sweden and Dubliner Tom met while working at the McCafé in McDonald’s on Grafton Street. “Myself and two friends of mine had just moved to Dublin from Sweden to be here for about a year to just work and have fun and I did end up going back to Sweden after a year but Tom came with me and we moved back and forth between Sweden and Ireland for a few years before settling in Ireland.”
As for their engagement Anna explains, “Tom proposed to me on a lovely day out at Ardgillan castle. There are few things I love more than visiting a grand old house with a walled garden and a café so his choice of venue was spot on. We were sitting in the grass looking out over the water and as he was asking our then-18-month-old daughter picked up his wallet and started running around emptying its contents which only made the moment even more memorable.”
“The aesthetics of the wedding was one element that just kind of came together naturally,” the bride reflects. The couple wanted the colour palette to be bright and cheerful. “My favourite colour is pink and Tom’s is orange so I used that for the bouquets, and the bridesmaids dresses.” Her leading ladies wore dresses that mixed and matched to perfection, as Anna designed a cerise pink dress with voluminous draped sleeves for her sister Linnea and a pastel floral print fit and flare dress with sweet tulle bow sleeves for her best friend Susanne.
Now, the moment we know you’ve been waiting for… The bride designed and created her high-neck lace gown adorned with 3D flowers and pearls and delicate touches of tulle throughout. “I trained to be a tailor and dressmaker but hadn’t planned on making my own dress but when I couldn’t find one that felt right I decided to make it myself.” She also made her dreamlike veil, a week before the wedding! She accessorised with pearl and gold floral earrings by A.B. Ellie and shoes from New Look.
For Anna and Tom ensuring that the wedding day was fun and they could soak up the magic with their loved ones was top of their priority list. “We wanted to make sure we would have time to speak to our guests and actually eat some of the canapes. We had to postpone the wedding three times due to Covid so by the time it actually came around we wanted everything to be as stress-free as possible.”
In order to keep the vibe as relaxed as possible for everyone, the couple stayed at the venue the night before with their families.
Their little ladies Mina and Ida wore pretty puff sleeve dress from Next and their hair accessories included a spray of baby’s breath and a soft pink silk ribbon.
As for the order of the day, “We had our photos taken before the ceremony to allow more time with our guests and we skipped things that didn’t feel important to us like having a receiving line or cake cutting off the wedding day priority list.”
Their processional followed Swedish tradition where the bride and groom arrive at the aisle together. They made their grand entrance to the joyous song God Only Knows by The Beach Boys.
The couple tied the knot in The White Room and the bright and airy space was styled with freshly plucked flowers from the gardens on the estate and an uber-chic ceremony arch of honeycomb balls in tonal hues of pink.
Their favourite ceremony reading was read by their godson who is Tom’s nephew, What I Learned About Love, I Learned from My Dog.
The couple did a handfasting ceremony and sweetly their two girls had decorated the ribbon. “Our eldest daughter had been saying all along that when they were going to bring it up to us during the ceremony she was going to say, ‘Keep the change you filthy animal’, and sure enough when she handed it over to us she did exactly that.”
“Toward the end of the ceremony our youngest daughter came up to us and said she needed to go to the toilet and despite everyone’s best efforts only I was allowed to bring her. So our celebrant wrapped up the ceremony as quickly as she could and we exited being dragged out by a three-year-old,” Anna reminisces.
They got the party started as they walked down the aisle as husband and wife to The Time of My Life from Dirty Dancing.
The venue was just as they dreamed, so they didn’t feel the need to add much to the decor. “They provided flowers from the garden throughout the house, dinner tables and ceremony room so we just went with the arch of honeycomb balls and pink candles for the ceremony and a ‘The Darcys’ neon sign for the reception room.
The tablescape styling included combinations of delicate flowers and lush foliage, gold sequin table runners and a dash of adorable nostalgia as the table numbers were photos of Anna and Tom through the years. “Both the honeycomb balls and neon sign now decorate our home of course.”
Tom’s dapper ensemble also included a sweet personal style twist, courtesy of his bright pink bowtie. “I had also promised to make Tom a bow tie out of the fabric for the one bridesmaids dresses but as the wedding day kept creeping closer and I was still working on dresses he ended up making it himself.”
Anna’s engagement ring is from Voltaire Diamonds based in the heart of Dublin city and they bought their wedding rings while they were on a sun-soaked holiday in Santorini celebrating their friends’ wedding.
Tom’s sister created their beautiful invites. “It was really personal with a picture of Horetown House and one of us as a family which we then used on the menu cards as well.”
The sustainably-run, exclusive-use wedding venue Horetown House is adored for its home-from-home vibe and the couple loved the aesthetic, the fact it’s a family-run business and that they only do 40 weddings a year. The old fashioned Irish pub on the grounds was a big bonus too. “We’re so happy we went with Horetown, all the staff were amazing, the day went really smoothly and our girls are always asking us when we can go back to ‘the big house’.”
“Focus on what’s important to you and don’t be afraid to scale back on things that aren’t,” Anna says when asked for her top wedding planning tip. “For example, we chose to not have a live band and just go with a DJ for the full night and instead spend that money on booking the venue for the night before and a meal with our families.”
They enlisted the services of top DJ Aidan Kavanagh who ensured the dancefloor was the hottest spot to be all night long.
Looking for wedding wardrobe inspiration? You can dive into the magical process of how Anna created her dream wedding dress and the gorgeous dresses for her bridesmaids in her My Wedding Wardrobe feature.
Anna and Tom, your Horetown House wedding was just the dreamiest! A very special thank you to Berit Alits for sharing the gorgeous imagery with One Fab Day!
Planning your special day? There’s so much inspiration for you in the Irish Real Wedding section!
