True Love Tuesday Danielle and Ryan Willis... - Getting Married in Northern Ireland Magazine

Danielle and Ryan

Danielle had noticed Ryan at her gym and surprisingly found herself at a party he was also at the following week, although they had a brief conversation at the party it was until Ryan reached out to Danielle on facebook that they really connected.

On New Year’s Eve in Disneyland Paris, the couple went to watch the fireworks by one of the fountains. The fountains were changing colours, the Disney music was playing, and Danielle stopped to take a video. Ryan kept saying her name as she took and the video, to which she turned around and he was there, down on one knee with a yellow box and sparkling ring. He said those special words, ‘Will you marry me?’ Danielle burst out in tears and said yes!

Danielle said “Wow the ring! I was shocked – he did amazing. I always get compliments on the ring. It is a dazzler from Goldsmiths”

Danielle began searching for her wedding dress but had a nightmare trying to find ‘the one’ after having no luck trying on the samples during her first visit. She then visited Wed2B. Danielle said, “my experience at Wed2b was fantastic, the girl that was helping me told me to have a look and pick four dresses, I had a look and first dress I picked ended up being my dress! I put it on my nerves were wild, I had a veil on and walked out to my parents I could see the tears in my Daddy’s eyes, they loved it! I had the shop manager and the shop assistants come over to say how they loved it, I started to cry… this was a big decision, my dad came over to me and said he would be so honoured to walk you down the aisle in this dress and that’s when I knew that was the dress.”

Danielle had two bridesmaids, her best friend since high school Nikita and Ryan’s sister, Michele. Her Maid of honour was Kerri.

Ryan’s best friends Jamie and Mike were his best men and his grooms’ men were Jason and Marty. Their groom’s wear was from Freddie Hatchet.

The couples couldn’t choose their favourite part of planning as they loved it all. The bride created a wedding Instagram account called ‘BecomingMrsWillis’ where she documented her planning and ideas. She also loved the DIY aspect of their plans, where they made things for the wedding which made it more personal. For the couple, the most stressful part was the seating plan as it took three times to get it right!

The couple were together nearly nine years before getting married. The big day took place on 30th December 2021 at Clandeboye Lodge.

The wedding day theme was holidays. The bride and her father found a world map canvas and hung the places the couple had been to such as New York, Paris, Egypt and Las Vegas. The guests table names were mini suitcases, the napkins holders were wooden airplanes.
They also had vintage postcards that the guests could use to leave a message and their invitations were also personalised to the theme day guests had a boarding pass and a passport and evening guests had a luggage tag.

The couple had a few special surprises for the day with Aloniam String Quartet playing and had Karl Beare, a local artist, play guitar for the guests. They had an ice-cream bike and were gifted a donut wall, post box, selfie booth and DJ by her cousin Ryan A. who is a Q radio presenter and owns his own wedding company, Prestige Weddings.

The bride had her own surprise as she wrote two speeches – one for her husband and one for her parents Danielle worked with Amy from A Perfect Plan NI to perfect these. Danielle said, ‘There was not a dry eye in that room and Ryan and my parents were so shocked. Guests were saying how they loved it and thought my speech was the best.’

The final surprise for their guests was bringing Ibiza to Bangor, the couple went on their hen and stag parties to Ibiza and wanted to recreate the vibe at the evening party so they hired the amazing ‘Holly Sax’ to play the saxophone and had inflatable saxophones for the guests.

The highlight of the day for the couple was partying with their friends and family.

Looking back the only thing they would change is taking everything in and enjoy every moment. This is the advice they have for other couples planning their wedding. Other advice they have is to make sure they have a wedding planning book to keep dates and lists of what you need documented.

The couple are looking forward to their ‘Bali honeymoon.