Time for another gorgeous Real Wedding! This time, the stunning Blackrock Castle, Cork, is the scene for the delightful couple Aoife and Michael’s big day. When looking through these photos, it was very hard to believe this wedding took place on an October’s day, but it is. This definitely gives us confidence for the winter months ahead!
”Once we got engaged, we decided to have a civil ceremony. Our next step was to find a unique location that would stand out and our guests would remember. I did a Google search and came across Blackrock Castle! We arranged a viewing immediately. Once we got a tour of the castle and saw the room that we could have our wedding in, we knew it was the place for us. From start to finish, our Wedding Coordinator was brilliant. She couldn’t have done more for us. All of our guests were so impressed with everything on the day!” 
”If I had to sum up the venue in one word it would be ‘magical’. Blackrock Castle gave us that intimate setting that we were looking for. We didn’t want a standard or generic day. We were looking for somewhere unique and that fitted in with what we were looking for in a wedding. Our Wedding Coordinator worked with us to create the perfect day for us. They were very happy to accommodate us especially when it came to décor. They gave us some really good suggestions and ideas!” 
”We gave ourselves about four months to plan the wedding which was adequate amount of time really. We could have spent a lot longer if we wanted to, but we didn’t. We really enjoyed planning the wedding. It came very easy to us. Probably because we didn’t allow ourselves to get stressed. My tip for any couple would be to always keep sight of why you are getting married and try not to get caught up with a lot of the emotions and stress that can come with planning a wedding. Our motto was ‘planning this wedding is as easy or difficult as we want to make it!’ We used this as our mantra!”
”We didn’t really follow any wedding trends. We picked things that we liked. All we wanted was for our families and guests to enjoy the day and for everyone to feel relaxed. Weddings can be very formal but that doesn’t necessarily fit in with who we are as a couple. This is the last thing that we wanted from our wedding – we wanted to identify with our day. Maybe ‘relaxed’ was theme of our wedding!”
“One of the main reasons that we fell in love with Blackrock Castle were the scenery and grounds. We knew we would get brilliant photos. Our photographer, Claire O’Rorke, did an amazing job on the day. We were so happy with the photos! We took our family shots on the viewing/observation balcony. Thankfully, the weather was great (even for October), so we got some stunning photos. We took a lot of shots with the Castle itself as the backdrop. She captured plenty moments of the ceremony as well. You really are spoilt for choice as to where to take photos when you have a wedding at Blackrock Castle. I think my favourite photos of the day were the ones we didn’t realise Claire was taking. She caught some really special moments beautifully.”
”I knew I wanted something with lace but above all, I wanted a dress that was going to be comfortable. I was very lucky though! I booked into Memories Bridal Boutique in Cork City. It took me 40 minutes to find the dress I was looking for. I just described what I wanted and they showed me a selection of the dresses. I think it was the fifth dress I tried on. It was exactly what I was looking for!”
“The ceremony at Blackrock Castle was definitely my favourite part of the day. We had about 80 of our closest friends and family. Everything about the ceremony was personal to us. We probably spent most of the time trying to get the ceremony exactly the way we wanted. Songs were a mix of old and new. Seeing as it was the jazz weekend, we used Nat King Cole L.O.V.E as our exit song. It was a little different but everyone seemed to enjoy it.”
”There is no part of the day that I can really pick out as my favourite. I think the day as a whole. We thoroughly enjoyed every part of our day. It was relaxed and very informal, just the way we wanted to be!”
Thank you Aoife and Michael for sharing your day with us as well as Blackrock Castle and the stunning wedding photography of Claire O’Rorke!
