Sarah and Mark came to me with a vision for a small, intimate wedding (‘around thirty guests please’) that simply celebrated their love without too much fuss. Over the next few months as we started booking things in and talking through ideas the wedding vision kept getting bigger (‘around one hundred guests we think’) and more and more fun elements were added all the while insisting that this was going to be small and simple.
Finally, we had a glorious, colourful, multi-layered wedding day planned for more than one hundred and fifty guests and Sarah laughed and said ‘It seems we are having a real wedding after all!’. It was all put together with so much love and care, it truly celebrated Sarah and Mark’s personalities and passions, and guests were treated to a day out at a fun and relaxed fete, with great food, beautiful vintage decor, and a blisteringly good band to dance the night away under the stars.
Love Story
Sarah and Mark met when they were out on a bike ride, both of them love cycling and are out there exploring new tracks every weekend. So their first date was no surprise, a trip to Clare to see a cycling event.
The Proposal
Mark proposed to Sarah at her fortieth birthday party, and got down on one knee in front of all their family and friends.
The Venue
The search for Sarah and Mark’s wedding venue was long as it needed to fulfill quite a few requirements. They needed somewhere family-friendly because they wanted to be able to invite all the children in their various circles and make sure they had as good a time as the adults, it needed to have several different areas available to set-up the day they had in mind, it needed to allow them to bring their own catering, and they wanted an outdoor venue with an indoor back-up in case of extreme weather. It also needed to fit the design brief of ‘Carnival Chic’. When we visited Carclew together for the first time we looked at each other and both had the same excited look in our eyes ‘This is the place!’.
Wedding Style
The priority on this wedding was to ensure guests felt relaxed and give them a great time. However, we also placed importance on making it look very ‘Sarah and Mark’ and this meant incorporating lots of design details around their love of cycling, their three year old daughter Ruby who was also a big part of the day, and their family dog, Harriet the short-haired pointer.
Wedding Details
A few of the best details included an enormously long dessert table filled with an equally enormous variety of desserts for guests to graze on later in the evening, some truly inspired floral design, and a specially-decorated bike for Ruby to make her grand exit parade on at bedtime, to the cheers of all the other guests. The celebrant entered the ceremony on a unicycle and almost upstaged the bride and groom!
The Dress
Sarah didn’t want to wear a traditional wedding gown and it really wouldn’t have fit her wedding vision anyway. Instead she visited a few of the stores she regularly shops at where she knew their cuts and style suited her and chose a gorgeous party dress from Ted Baker. As flowergirl, Ruby also wore a party dress to complement her Mum’s.
- Style Guide -
Photography: Jade Tovo Photography | Bar & Beverage: Roving Cafe, Are You Being Served | Bride’s Makeup: BLUSH Hair Makeup Beauty | Dessert Table & Bombonniere: the Sweet Tooth Factory | Bride’s Dress: Ted Baker | Catering: Two Fat Blokes Pizza, Delectaballs, Veggie Velo, Gelista | Entertainment: Lucifer’s Lounge, Mr Oopy’s Kids Show, Life. Be In It | Florals: Fleur de Lys Flowers | Officiant: Sam Gluck Celebrancy | Rehearsal Dinner: the Wellington Hotel | Hire Equipment: Derringers Music, Shadehunter Umbrellas | Rentals & Decor: Bulb Lighting, Festival Hire, Nutmeg Creative, Old Refinery | Rings: Utopian Creations | Stationery: Vintage Custom Designs | Transportation: EcoCaddy | Venue: Carclew | Planned, Styled and Managed by Sparrow Weddings & Events
