Unveiling the Journey to ‘I Do’
“Love is not just a feeling; it’s an endless act of creating happiness together.”
Mariane Freitas de Souza from Brazil and Benny Marmion from Newry enjoyed their first date at Villa Vinci in Cookstown, Mariane was living in Cookstown at the time, they knew straight away that they wanted to meet up again; before long they were spending every weekend together.
A proposal happened in Derry while they were on a break celebrating Mariane’s 30th birthday with her family. Mariane told us “It was at the end of February 2022 and the Illuminate festival had been taking place in Derry that week. Benny got in contact with someone from Derry city council and the Illuminate team and arranged for “Mariane will you marry me? Love Benny” to be projected onto the side of the Guild Hall while Ed Sheeran’s Perfect played across Guild Hall square in front of a crowd of around 1000 people. I was completely shocked and had no idea that Benny had this planned. It even made BBC News NI the following evening. The ring is a beautiful white gold band with a round diamond in the centre and smaller ones down the sides, crafted by Aidan Brennan”
It was soon time for dress shopping, which Mariane found to be a really good experience and a lot of fun. Mariane said it wasn’t too hard to find her perfect dress at Elody Bridal in Newry, where she went accompanied by friends and family.
Dresses for bridesmaids Renata (cousin) Michelle (grooms sister) Lizandra and Taisa (friends) came from Asos.
Suits for Benny and his groomsmen Gerard (friend) Declan and Ronan (brothers) and Johnny (friend) came from O’Cathalain Menswear, Culloville, Co. Armagh.
A date was set for 5th May 2023 and St Marys’s Church, Mullaghbawn was booked for the ceremony along with The Four Seasons in Carlingford for a reception for 120 people with a Brazilian theme. The couple wanted to bring Mariane’s heritage into their day and also bring some colour and Brazilian culture to their day. The couple used a VW Beetle and a VW Camper Van which are very common in Brazil for their bridal party, there were Samba dancers and drummers along with Brazilian chocolates on the tables with place names from Brazil rather than table numbers.
The couple said they enjoyed going round looking at venues until they found their perfect one, the most stressful part was the table plans. Although they shouldn’t have worried, the whole day was perfect, stress free and “the most fun day of their lives” they told us. A special feature was the Brazilian Samba Dancers (Rio Soul Samba) which went down a treat with their guests, the reaction from their guests was certainly one to be remembered.
The couple both agreed that they wouldn’t do anything differently as they were so happy with how it all went. Even their first dance to Luke Combs “Forever After All’ was perfect.
Mariane and Benny are travelling to Rio de Janeiro in October for 3 weeks for their honeymoon, where no doubt they will have an amazing time. They gave this advice to other couples “Try to get as many plans in place as early as you can, if you can have everything in place and all the fine details sorted at least a week or more before your wedding day, you can have a week without any stress or worry before your day arrives”.
WEDDING SUPPLIERS INFO:
Reception location: Four Seasons Hotel, Spa and Leisure Club Carlingford
Wedding Dress from: Elody Bride
Groomswear from: O’Cathalain Menswear
Make-up by: Molly Cooke Makeup
Hair by: Joanne Cooke at Cooke&co
Flowers by: The Flower Barrow
Room Décor by: Wow Weddings
Rings from: Jack Murphy Jewellers
Cake by: The Busy Whisk Bakery
Transport from: I Do Wedding Cars
Photography by: Ciaran O’Neill Photography
Videography by: McVeigh Studio
Entertainment by: Ellen Maguire, Rio Soul Samba, The Professionals
