True Love Tuesday Emma and Eoghan Cullen... - Getting Married in Northern Ireland Magazine

Last August, Emma and Eoghan Cullen tied the knot after six years, and one gorgeous son, together. With a ‘simple and classy’ theme running throughout, the day was a beautiful reflection of their love for each other.
The couple met in 2011 through a mutual friend, and it took Eoghan a few times of asking before Emma agreed to a date. But he wined and dined the brunette beauty from Castlecaulfield, and in 2014 he proposed on Christmas Day.
Emma recalls, “Eoghan gave me a card on Christmas Eve, and insisted I open it. On the front it said ‘Happy Christmas to my Girlfriend’ and inside were two tickets to my favourite comedian, Tommy Tiernan. “I was delighted with an early Christmas present and I popped the card on the fireplace where all the other cards where. The next morning I walked downstairs and noticed only my card was sitting on the fireplace and the word girlfriend was scored out and fiancé written beside it. My beautiful engagement ring was behind the card and Eoghan asked me to marry him? And of course, I said yes!”

With the date set for August 2017, the couple started to plan for their day, which saw them marry at St. Patrick’s Chapel, Dungannan, followed by a reception for their 170 guests at the Corick House Hotel. They settled on a classy theme, as Emma explains, “I wanted everything to flow with the colours and it did; from my wedding cars to my venue, and from my dress to the cake, it was all simple but classy. “I went with this theme as it’s something I always imagined my wedding to be – simple, but classy and nothing too overboard. “I enjoyed many parts of planning our big day, from choosing the flowers, the bridesmaid dresses, picking the venue, designing the cake and designing our invites. “Yet the most stressful part was trying to make it all come together. I think every bride gets stressed if something doesn’t go to plan. It was also stressful trying to get everything you need and I found the smaller things that needed sorted were the most stressful but it all worked out in the end.”

But before Emma could walk up the aisle she needed a dress and it wasn’t so simple to find the perfect one. “I visited five different bridal shops having no luck whatsoever. The first shop I went to was Serendipity in Fivemiletown, and I tried on all different styles of dress but I wanted to visit a few other bridal shops as I hadn’t decided what suited me best and didn’t see one I fell in love with. “I was so fed up after the fifth shop that I wanted to give up as I knew I needed to get my dress soon. Something told me to go back to Serendipity – I now knew what kind of dress fitted me and what style. “I finally found my dream dress, it was a stunning Pronovias dress which fitted me perfectly and I fell in love. It’s true what they say, you will know it’s the one and it was the one.” Despite the long search Emma enjoyed the process. “I found the experience so exciting as I was the first out of my household to get married and I loved trying on all of the different dresses, and when I finally found the one I was so delighted.” Emma had four bridesmaids – her sister Moya, her sister-in-law Rosie and two best friends, Catherine and Aideen – along with three flowergirls. The bridesmaid dresses were bought online from Asos and the flower girl dresses were from Matalan.

The best man, Eoghan’s brother in law Mark, and three groomsmen, Eoghan’s brother Cathal, Emma’s brother Chris, and Eoghan’s friend Neil, were kitted out with smart three piece suits from McQuillans in Portadown With everything set, the couple celebrated their day surrounded by their friends and family, and they ‘couldn’t have asked for a better day from start to finish, everything came together so well.’They did go over their budget slightly but have no regrets! Emma said, “I think it’s hard to set a budget and stick to it but it was all worth it. I wouldn’t change a thing or do anything differently. ” They also had a poignant highlight when their four-year-old son made a speech. “There were so many highlights on the day but when our 4-year-old son got up in front of everyone and gave his own speech it brought a tear to our eyes.”
Emma and Eoghan danced their first dance to a Bee Gees classic, ‘To Love Somebody’ which the band sang live. After their perfect wedding day they honeymooned in Cancun in Mexico and are ‘enjoying married life together, and are still on a high from our wedding.’
Looking back, they advise other couples, “Don’t stress too much as it all works out in the end. Try and enjoy the planning and the run up to the wedding, and also try and take everything in on the day as it really goes so quick.”