A Pandemic Couldn't Even Stop Their Love Story!

When the COVID-19 outbreak forced all of our 2020 & most of our 2021 couples to reschedule their weddings our hearts began to break for them. Your wedding day is one of the biggest moments of your life many couples particularly brides have dreamt of this day forever – and to have your plans upended without any control is truly devastating. However, with the bad came the beautiful for Niamh and Steve as a pandemic couldn’t even stop their love story. We are thrilled to share their story & little bit of advice thrown in for good measure from a coronavirus-era couple.

Wedding Advice from a Coronavirus-Era Couple

Like so many other couples Niamh and Steve opted to still say ‘I do’ in an unconventional and beautiful way as they believed that not even a pandemic is strong enough to stop true love.

Your Love story…how did it all begin?

We shared a car ride with some friends down to a Kerry Foods football tournament in Tralee, Kerry and the rest is history. However, I did set my eyes on him the year before at the same event. 🙂

Proposal Story?

In Cornwall… on St Michaels Mount…. probably the busiest part of Cornwall that day. Steve was having a heart attack. He thought it was going to be very quiet. He was banging around the island like a mad man looking for a place to sit and relax. I was completely on to him. Then we got some champagne and sat on the beach and rang our families. It was very special. 💕

What inspired your wedding décor?

We wanted something simple and chic and maybe even a touch of boho. A relaxed, natural yet slightly luxurious vibe. If that makes any sense 🙂

How did you choose the wedding colours?

Once we got engaged I had always known I was going to have a burgundy blush and sage bouquet. I was always drawn towards those colours for flowers in the house.

What moment was your favourite? Was it the same moment for your spouse?

The ceremony was favourite for both of us. We loved every single minute of it. It was just prefect, we both couldn’t stop smiling, from the spiritualist officiant who was absolutely amazing to the beautiful songs sung by Natalie, to the gorgeous flowers by the talented Kristine Hayes, to the poems read by friends and family. It was very special being able to actually get married in front of our closest friends and family.

How did Covid affect the planning stages of your wedding?

Our original plan was to have a marquee wedding at Niamh’s family home in May 2021. Due to Covid 19 restrictions at the time we had to make changes to the guest list. This meant we had to narrow it down to only 28 guests for the ceremony only just 8 weeks prior to the date.

At the time we were devastated as we wanted to spend the day with our nearest and dearest, but we were glad that we could have 28 guests travel to our ceremony at Theatre Royal. We were able to have a lovely meal with our family afterwards.

Again, with the bad came the beautiful for Niamh and Steve as they plan to have a marquee celebration at Niamh’s family home in May 2022 to mark their first anniversary in a very special way… this time including all their loved ones.

At any point, did you feel unmotivated, sad, or discouraged?

Yes constantly, particularly as Niamh worked on the front-line during the coronavirus pandemic. Setting all the struggles and uncertainty that came with the pandemic aside the couple decided that their love couldn’t wait and tied the knot in front of a small group of family members.

Biggest challenge during planning?

Not knowing how many people we could invite to the wedding to celebrate with us. Overall, just the unknown, were we going to be able to have music at the wedding? were we going to be able to have our first dance?

Was having a planner a wise move?

Having a planner was very helpful in terms of bringing to life our ideas and helping to narrow down the vast number of suppliers out there that matched our style.