True Love Tuesday Laura-Jayne & Oisin Quinn

Childhood sweethearts Laura-Jayne and Oisin made the return trip home to Galbally for their luxurious New Year’s themed wedding last December. Now living in Sydney, the pair organised their lavish wedding day from afar, but they still managed to source everything they needed locally.

“There was no theme specifically but from the outset I wanted the day to have a black tie-esque feel, and with the with the wedding being so close to New Year’s Eve, I think the black tie theme partnered well.” Adding black velvet into the bridal party outfits added the touches Laura-Jayne imagined. ”I had three bridesmaids, my two sisters Ciara Kilpatrick and Catherine Jones alongside my best friend Jennifer Lennon. ”The bridesmaids’ dresses were made by the very talented Ellen Lambert in black velvet. The fabric was so lux, we all loved them. The girls then sourced matching black velvet gloves from Harrods and accessorised with black fur.

”I really liked the idea of matching the groomsmen’s jackets to the bridesmaids dresses. Tom Morrow in Dungannon organised the suits with velvet jackets for us – for Oisin’s cousin Ronan Quinn and his two childhood friends James Cunningham and Sean Murphy.”
And when it came to sourcing her wedding dress, Laura-Jayne also had a designer in mind. “I had looked at a few designers in Sydney but didn’t see anything that I envisaged for my wedding. I liked Suzanne Neville’s designs as they were timeless and elegant and that was what I desired for a New Year wedding. I also had to factor in that it would be December in Ireland so this eliminated a few options.

“Overall I found the experience was exciting but also nerve-wracking.” The couple had met at school, St. Patrick’s Academy, Dungannon, and were together for nine years before they tied the knot. “We got engaged on holiday in Fiji in September 2016. We were island hopping and Oisin proposed on our first island – I think he wanted to get it over with! He had picked the ring himself from the Tiffany store in Sydney. It’s a traditional yellow gold band with a solitaire diamond.” With the engagement official, the couple planned their big day for back in Northern Ireland, just 15 months later, choosing to get married at St. John’s Church in Galbally followed by a reception for 280 guests at Cabra Castle in County Cavan.

“We were very lucky that the weather was on our side and we even got a sprinkling of snow in the morning. The ceremony and reception had no hiccups and I made sure I wasn’t too late!
“My highlight was probably standing at the bottom of the aisle with my father knowing we had the full day ahead of us to enjoy but Oisin says it was when Philomena Begley took to the stage – ‘it’s always a good night then!’

“We were lucky in many aspects of the wedding but we did have a few minutess on the altar when the best man was trying to locate the rings. I think he took his time more to wind us up than anything else! “And looking back, it’s a cliché but I would probably just stress about things less as it all worked out in the end.”

For a special treat for the guests, the couple arranged for a ‘New Year’s Eve, Eve’ firework display. And they hid the favours at the table until Oisin instructed the guests to find them; they were scratch cards but so far they haven’t never heard of any guests winning anything substantial!

As for the budget? “Like most couples getting married we had good intentions but unfortunately we did not stick to it as rigidly as we had hoped. But when it comes to organising I would say, ‘Many magazines give a timeline of organisation but I would recommend taking a specific item every month and brainstorming with what you want/don’t want and aligning that up alongside possible suppliers.”

Now back in Sydney the couple are back to the day jobs, and Laura-Jayne says, ‘It has been busy so far getting to Sydney and settling back in but we are really enjoying the change of dynamic from being engaged to being married. “We still have our honeymoon to look forward to. It is currently planned for August 2018 and we are visiting the Hawaiian islands and Bora Bora”