Like A House On Fire: Hélène + Dave At The Radisson Blu Limerick

Hélène and Dave’s meeting is something you’d see in a romantic movie!

Once you read how these two lovebirds first got together, you won’t deny that they were just meant to be! The two have since formed a bond unlike any other and for this Real Wedding, we were lucky enough to have both the bride and groom share their heartwarming thoughts.

With plenty of good food and great music, they celebrated into the night in the relaxed, comfortable setting of the Radisson Blu Limerick. We love a good love story hear at WeddinDatesHQ, and we have to say that Hélène and Dave’s truly made us smile. Read all the loving details and see their stunning day at Radisson Blu Limerick.

The Bride & Groom

Hélène: “My mam is French and my dad is Irish. I grew up bi-lingual with French and Irish as my main languages. I have always had a knack of learning languages as a result, and learned German at school, which I still use to this day for my job. I was born in Dublin, but I spent my formative years in Quin, a small village in Co. Clare, not far from the Radisson hotel. I still say I’m from Clare now, even though I have moved away over 20 years ago. I love singing, and am a member of a choir and several singing groups.”

Dave: “I am from Finglas, a real Dub and proud Northsider. Hélène is really a Northsider too, but thinks she is a culchie. At least she’s not a Southsider! I am a diehard Tottenham Hotspur (Spurs) supporter. In addition to football, I love music, technology, and photography.”

The Begining

H: “We met in a pub in Malahide. It was a Sunday evening. I had arranged to meet someone and left my choir practice early, but he never showed. Hopping mad at having had my time wasted, I went to his local to confront him, but he wasn’t there. Instead, I ran into Dave who I knew was a friend of his. Dave could see I was upset and offered to buy me a drink. I asked for tea. I was impressed that even though it was nearly 9:00 pm, he didn’t quibble about it or say something like “have a real drink”. He got me the tea and insisted on keeping me company. He could see I was upset and didn’t want me to be on my own. We got chatting and I found I really enjoyed his company. We had plenty in common and got on like a house on fire.”

D: “I was on my way home from seeing the band in Gibneys in Malahide. I normally walk on by Duffy’s, but that evening something prompted me to go in. I met this beautiful girl, and I just thought she is so upset I want to keep her company. I didn’t want to see her left on her own. When it was time for her to go home, I walked her to the train station and asked her for her number. And the rest is history.”

The Proposal

D: “The proposal was not really very romantic. Hélène came home from a very stressful day at work, and was in a really bad mood. In addition, we were expecting visitors from Germany that evening, and we were a bit behind schedule getting things ready.”

H: “Dave called to me from the bedroom, saying that he couldn’t get up. We were due to go to France for a holiday the following week, and I was worried that he had done something to injure his back. I hurried into the bedroom and Dave was on his knee next to the bed. He repeated “I can’t get up…..” and added “until you say yes”, and took out a ring box from under the mattress. My bad mood evaporated instantly, and of course I said “yes!” We celebrated that evening with our visiting friends and told our families. He caught me completely off guard.”

D: “I had thought to propose during our holiday in France, but I was afraid that something might happen to the ring in transit. I figured it would be safer to have the ring on her finger altogether.”

H: “My engagement ring is just beautiful: a diamond set in white gold surrounded by a halo of smaller diamonds. It is not too showy but has a quiet sparkle. Everyone was very impressed that Dave picked out my ring by himself. It is just very me!”

The Wedding Attire

H: “I wore a beautiful wedding dress from Edel Tuite Bridal Design in Drogheda. I tried on about 7 of her dresses, which were all gorgeous. As soon as I tried on THE dress, I knew it was the one for me. The sight of my mother and my sister welling up, coupled with the fact that I didn’t stop smiling since putting it on, confirmed that I had made the right decision. I find it hard to describe clothes, so I’ll let the photos do the rest! I made my veil following instructions I found on Pinterest.”

“My bridesmaid was my sister Orla. We got the material for her dress in Roisin Cross Silks in Deansgrange, Dublin. Her favourite colour is purple, so we got silk in that colour, with a pistachio green lining. The dress was made by Nathalie, one of the very talented dressmakers/designers whom we met through Roisin Cross Silks. Nathalie also has her own business, Perfect Alterations, in Rathfarnam.”

“My mam, in consultation with Nathalie, designed her own dress, and it was made by Nathalie, with material bought at Roisin Cross Silks. Her dress had panels of red silk with one panel in bright green. It was gorgeous and so different from the usual mother-of-the-bride outfits.”

“It was really lovely to bond with my mam and my sister getting their dresses made. I got a dress made too for the day after too (bright blue, lined in shocking pink!). We made an occasion of each fitting, going for lunch together afterwards, and taking the day to spend quality time together.”

“Some fantastic advice I got from another bride was to make an occasion out of all the things that needed to be done. This approach allowed us to be relaxed and savour the time together, and also to build memories to share, both with each other and with my mam and my sister.”

D: “My best man, father-in-law, and I all wore blue 3-piece suits from Protocol, Swords. My tie was white to match the bride, and the ties for the others were purple. We wore brown shoes with blue laces. It’s not only the bride that has something blue! The cufflinks for the groom and the best man were made by Celtic Coin Jewellery in Spiddal, and were made from coins with our respective years of birth.”

The Venue

H: “We had been invited to a wedding of a friend of mine from work in June 2017. We had such a great time, and were so impressed with the service at the Radisson and the professionalism and friendliness of the staff, that we couldn’t think of anywhere we would rather celebrate our own wedding. Also, the location gave our friends and family that were travelling from abroad different options for airports, and would also allow our guests to see where I grew up.”

D: “We found the Radisson to be very relaxed, and family friendly, and it has plenty of facilities for children, including a playground, a swimming pool, plenty of open space set well back from the road, and a beautiful fairy garden. All of this was an important factor, as we had invited lots of children among our guests.”

The Venue Wow Factor

“What impressed us the most was the relaxed friendliness and professionalism of the whole team at the Radisson and how seamlessly they all worked together. We knew that we would have a fantastic day, and that everything would go smoothly. The whole day was completely stress-free for us both. The staff at the Radisson made organising the wedding so easy for us. Special thanks go to Stacey for all her help and advice from day one! Everything on the day itself went without a hitch (if something did go wrong, we certainly didn’t notice!). We loved the décor, which was really fresh and beautiful. It was exactly what we wanted: low key, no fuss, creating a relaxed vibe. The food and wines were delicious. And the service was impeccable.

“Our guests were very impressed by the whole service and organisation by the hotel and the friendliness of the staff. They especially loved how the meal was served with the use of the silver domes and the complete coordination of all servers. That was something that had impressed both of us at the wedding the previous year too.”

“We also really enjoy our tasting visit, which we had back in April. That was an incredible experience! Upon arrival, we were upgraded to the bridal suite, and given the star treatment during our entire stay. And the Radisson really took it up a notch for our big day itself!”

Themes & Trends

“We didn’t really have a theme as such, and we’re not aware of what is trendy. What was important to us was to celebrate our love with our family and friends present, with good food, great music, in a relaxed comfortable setting. As we had invited a lot of children, we especially wanted to make sure that they would enjoy the day too.

“For our nuptials, we had a Humanist ceremony in the hotel itself. That was very special, and our celebrant, Mary O’Shea, helped us to put together a very personal and moving ceremony. It allowed us to involve several people, who are special to us in our ceremony and our guests found it unique and very moving.”

“As part of the ceremony, we used tiny pieces of glass in 5 different colours, which we poured one by one into a large vase. We each poured in two colours, which represented aspects of our respective characters, and together we poured the fifth colour, which symbolised the union of both of us and what we hoped that our marriage would bring us. When we got home, we sent those mixed glass pieces away to have them made into a vase. We have since received the finished vase and it is just beautiful.”

H: “Instead of favours on the tables, we decided to donate the money to a charity with a particular significance to us. We each chose a charity and they provided us with little cards for the tables. Dave chose the Raheny Hospice, which looked after his dad so well before he passed away. My chosen charity was Cancer Care West, which has helped a really dear friend of mine through a very tough battle, which I am thankful to say she is winning! Our guests thought it was a lovely idea.”

“Because of my French heritage, we had a traditional French wedding cake: Croquembouche. The French family were delighted! Croquembouche is made of profiteroles, filled with crème patissière, stacked on top of each other and held together with melted caramel.  We found a Frenchman in Kilcock, Julien Drapeau, owner of French Wedding Cakes, who made us an absolutely delicious cake. We were a bit worried that there mightn’t be enough in the Croquembouche to go around, so we had Julien make a chocolate cake for the base as well, just in case.”

The Photographer

“Our wedding photographer was a husband and wife team, Janusz and Justyna Trzesicki, originally both from Poland, but now based in Kanturk. They were really relaxed and friendly, and brilliant to work with. Neither of us is very comfortable in front of the camera, but they put us at our ease very quickly, and they were so easy to chat with and get along with.”

“They were very professional and had lots of great ideas for shots. We had our engagement photo-shoot with them at Quin Abbey, a favourite place of Hélène’s. We were delighted with the results of their work both from that day, and from the wedding day itself. Lots of people commented at how unobtrusive and discreet they were. We hardly knew they were there ourselves!”

“Between the pair of them, Janusz and Justyna photographed lots of special moments that really captured the spirit of the day. They managed to get loads of great photographs of us and our guests. They worked tirelessly all day long and stayed until the band finished playing, longer than we expected them to.”

“We got our photos back a few weeks ago, and are really pleased and impressed with the results. Nearly a month on, and we are still trying to narrow down the number of photos from the wedding day to put into the album. There are just so many beautiful ones to choose from!”

Special Moments

There were many special moments during the day. It is so hard to pick just one. Our ceremony was very personal, and the vows and exchanging rings was very special, as was the reading of the final blessing by Hélène’s aunt and godmother, Muireann. Everyone present thought it was a wonderful ceremony and that it reflected our personalities.

We both loved having our photos taken at nearby Bunratty Castle. Because we were having the ceremony and the reception in the one place, we didn’t hire a wedding car. Upon arrival at Bunratty, there was a beautiful vintage car decked out in ribbons parked outside the gates, waiting for another happy couple to get back into it. We thought we’d get a cheeky photo beside it, pretending it was ours, but before we could get near enough, the car drove off. We had a laugh about it, and then got on with taking photos in the grounds of the castle and Folk Park. Being congratulated by the tourists that we encountered was a little surreal, but a really lovely experience.

Taking a few minutes for ourselves to view the ballroom and the cake was also special. It was nice to get a preview and see the splendour in advance of everyone arriving.

Our “official” entrance into the ballroom and seeing in the faces of all our friends and family that they shared our happiness was also a very special moment.

H: As a surprise for Dave, I had organised for Maurico Pochettino, manager of Tottenham Hotspur (Spurs), to send a message of congratulations to him for our wedding day. The best man read this out before making his speech. Unfortunately, Dave found out about it in advance, so the surprise element was ruined. But he still loved it, and has framed the letter!

Two of our nieces are fantastic Irish dancers, and they organised a surprise dance for us after dinner, while the band were setting up. That was incredibly special too, and something that we and our guests also greatly enjoyed.

The speeches, the first dance, the father/daughter dance; they were also treasured memories. And dancing with our friends and families to the absolutely amazing band, The Mixtape, was just the best fun. They got us to do a dance-off, men against the women, which the women won. Of course!

The whole day and night were just brilliant! We couldn’t have asked for better.

Heartfelt Thanks

Special thanks again to all our guests for celebrating with us and making our wedding day so memorable and special.

We would also like to thank all the people, who worked incredibly hard to make our day such a wonderful occasion for us and for our friends and family. The Radisson Blu Hotel & Spa is an amazing venue and you would be hard pushed to find yourselves in better hands than Stacey, Eoin, Eoghan, Stephanie, and all the team. If we could do it all again, we wouldn’t change a thing!

Supplier Information

• Venue:

  Radisson Blu Limerick

• Photographer:

  Janusz Trzesicki Photography

• Bridal Shop/Designer:

  Edel Tuite Bridal Design, Drogheda

• Florist:

  Every Blooming Thing, Limerick

• Wedding Cake :

  French Wedding Cakes, Julien Drapeau

• Makeup Artist:

  Sarah Clancy & Niamh, Ravens Salon at Radisson Blu Limerick

• Wedding Decor :

  Louise Eustace, Grace Events Ireland

• Ceremony Music :

  Claire Heffernan

• Celebrant :

  Mary O’Shea, Humanist Association of Ireland