{September Bride Of The Month} Karen

Where & When did the wedding take place?

“Our wedding took place in the Crom Castle Estate, Newtownbutler, County Fermanagh, BT92 8AP.  We arrived on the Friday 5th August and stayed in the west Wing, my Mum, Dad and Gran (Freuchie, Scotland) My Uncle Alan (Pickering, England) Alan’s niece Andrea and nephew Kelton (Fairfield CT USA), Geordie and Ann (friends of ours from Alness Ross-shire, Scotland), and Alan’s best Man Glen Skaggs and his wife Ida our adopted “American Mom & Dad” (from Loudon, Tennessee, USA) all stayed in the castle till the Sunday.  Which was fantastic and made it so much more special.  From Crom Castle we were taken by an old cot (which is a long flat bottomed boat) to Crom Church where the Reverend Robert Riddel Performed the marriage ceremony.  Then it was back to Crom Castle, photos were taken in the grounds and the meal was in Crom Castle then later we moved to the Share Centre for the evening celebrations we had more than Crom Castle could cater for joining us for the evening celebrations.  Everyone at Crom Castle and The share centre did a fantastic job and the day wouldn’t have been so good if it wasn’t for all them, and the band, a local band of 3 men from Fivemiletown called the Supersers, they were astounding, and the dance floor never cooled all night the guys were enjoying it so much they forgot to stop playing!!!  Then in the early hours the Share Centre ran their bus back to the Castle for those of us who were staying in the castle – a fantastic day.”

What was great about your venue? 

“What’s not to love, a place that is special to us both, Alan has known Crom all his life, for his family farmed the land years ago and he knew Lord & Lady Erne’s son John Crichton as a boy and he also knew Noel Johnston who now runs the West Wing on John’s behalf, as Noels family have worked in Crom for a lifetime and Noel was also a boy there with Alan and John.  So it was always special to Alan then when we started going out we would spend many a day in Crom in the heart of Summer to the depths of winter.  From the Castle and its stunning setting, rooms and location to the Beautiful ground and indeed the boat journey to Crom Church its a perfect once in a lifetime setting.  Absolutely fantastic.  The Guests all drove round to the Church for to ferry them all over would have taken hours!!!”

What was your best part of the day?

“Best Part of the Day – impossible to say for the ENTIRE day was the best part, it was wonderful in every way, even John Crichton was there to see us off in the cot and to congratulate us later in the castle, indeed it was John Crichton that extracted me from the jeep at the dock – with a long train the only way to travel was kneeling on the seat with the train in the footwell, but the whole day was the best so much so we would go back to the Friday and go through it again just to experience the day and the weekend again for it was over in a flash and we loved every moment of it.”
“What advice would you give to brides to be?”

“Plan everything in advance and do as much as you can long before the last few months arrive, then its a whole lot easier but that last week is pure HELL, then come the day leave it all to those who you planned it with who are there to make everything work to plan and all you need to do is breathe and enjoy it and keep looking around and remember every little detail for it will be over in a Flash – and for the evening have a pair of White Crocs, they are a life saver and perfect under a wedding dress!!!”

 ”Who made your dress/Where did you buy it from?” 

“I got my Dress from The Bridal Showroom, Londonderry and it was from the Galaxy Paris Range.  http://www.thebridalshowroom.com/ It was the first dress in the first shop on the first day and mainly thanks to the amazing assistant Patricia who was so bubbly she was amazing treated you like family and made it great – for I hate shopping and I never wear dresses indeed only started wearing a skirt that year and I rarely know what looks good on me, with the one exception the wedding dress, and everything we tried after was not as good as that first one and I didn’t know what I wanted, though I said I wanted straps and ivory, I ended up with strapless and White and I wouldn’t have had it any other way, I just wish we could experience the day again so I could wear the dress again, I love it.”

What details did you choose for a personal touch?

“Where do I start – Tiara designed by Jenni, after many e-mails which turned out perfect, Earrings- which were Debenhams butterflies, necklace I didn’t know till the day – it was bought for my by my fiancé he got 2 as he wasn’t sure which would look best both were white gold and diamond heart shape. Scottish heather and silver Eryngium which are thistle like, and the rest of the flowers were suggestions from my Florist Anne Johnston – Flowers by Anne, Fintona, as I didn’t know much about flowers, but I didn’t want just white, and it wasn’t to take away from the sparkle of the dress, so Anne helped sort that out.  Bridesmaids Earrings from Debenhams as one bridesmaid is allergic to other metals except silver, the necklaces were from eBay and hairgrips which Jenni made to go with the tiara.  Also I designed all the stationary, invites, menus, place cards, table plan, every stationary part I designed and my Mum made it all, again it toned in with the silver sheen of the cards and paper to the panel with Crom Castle and the Tartan Ribbon which matched Alan’s kilt, Mum Made bags for myself and the bridesmaids mine incorporated parts of the lace which were off cuts from my Dress, the bridesmaids was the same material and also had the tartan on too, even the Guest book I designed and Mum printed the pages which were then comb bound and covered using material from the bridesmaid dresses and a white that matched my dress the pages were done to incorporate a photo of each Guest Couple, family or individual so in years to come you have a photo of everyone.  Even the Order of Service and the readings were all done to match with the stationery.”

Who helped to make your day so special,

For all those who helped us have such an amazing wedding we would like to say thank you to you all.  For anyone getting married in Northern Ireland, where better than in a magical setting like Crom Castle, where you can get married in the West Wing or like us you can get married in Crom Church, the catering is second to none and the meal was absolutely stunning thanks to Saddlers, and if you have more coming to the night than can be in Crom Castle then head to the Share Centre where there is a wonderful group of staff who will push out all the stops and create and amazing atmosphere where the craic is fantastic, and so many others who were all involved in the planning and the running of our day Thank you for without you it wouldn’t have been as special as it was and also a Massive thank you to our Guests who traveled from near and far to join us, to them also a huge thank you.

 

Crom Castle – The West Wing, Newtownbutler - www.cromcastle.com
info@cromcastle.com – 028 6773 8004 Noel or Amanda

A Huge thank you to Viscount John Crichton and Noel & Amanda Johnston plus all the staff there who helped.

Crom Holy Trinity Church, Derryvore – http://www.kinawley.kilmore.anglican.org/crom.html

Rev Andrew Quill for allowing us to get married in Crom Church and to the Rev Robert Riddel for giving us such a laugh as well as a beautiful service

Saddlers Catering & The Horseshoe Bar, Enniskillen – http://www.horseshoeandsaddlers.com/outsidecatering.htm

info@horseshoeandsaddlers.com – 028 6632 6223 Norman Coulter

A Huge Thank you to Norman Coulter and all those who helped on the day from our Catering Manager to the waiting staff who all did such an amazing job.

 Pat Lunny, Lunny Imaging, Enniskillen – http://www.lunnyimaging.com/

A Huge thank you to Pat Lunny, our Photographer, for everything for allowing my Uncle Norman Myles and his daughter Pamela to tag along as your “assistants” to video and also take photographs, giving us a wonderful selection of photographs.

028 6632 2734 – Pat Lunny

 

Wedding Notebook – http://www.weddingnotebook.co.uk/

A fantastic website where you can have your own wedding website and gift list – fantastic isn’t even close.  For us it was ideal as we had people coming from Scotland, England and the USA and this made it easy to tell them details of the wedding, directions, accommodation and also a Gift List that meant they could shop around for the best deal for it wasn’t linked to any shop – it worked out very well then in the last few weeks I printed it out and took it to the 2 local shops, Dowler’s of Enniskillen and Lisnaskea and Home Field and Stream in Enniskillen who were kind and patient enough to work with me in the last 2 weeks, which also worked really well.  But the website was fantastic and now I am updating it so that we can show people photos and details of the wedding – though its not finished yet!!!!

 

The Bridal Showroom, Londonderry – http://www.thebridalshowroom.com/

pdoherty2008@yahoo.co.uk – 028 7137  7105 – Patricia or Sharon

A Massive thank you to Patricia and all the ladies in the Bridal Showroom, I loved every minute of it, and if you are struggling to know what you want visit the Bridal Showroom they are amazing, a family run business who want nothing more than to help you find your perfect dress and they treat you like family, they are amazing and I miss them!!

 

BeSpoken For, Harwich – http://www.bespokenfor.co.uk/index.php

jenni@bespokenfor.co.uk – 0800 468 1440 – Jenni

A Massive thank you to Jenni for designing such a wonderful and perfect Tiara and Bridesmaid grips.  FAntastic isn’t even a good enough description.  Thank you.

 

Piper – Johnny Magee, Gortin – 07723 024375

We struggled to find a bagpiper here in Northern Ireland who played the Scottish pipes but who WASN’T away in competitions, a friend of ours Willie Moore (Ardstraw) knew Johnny, and got us in touch with him.  Johnny is a marvelous guy, real class, and even suggested a rehearsal so we knew how the music would work, and that was so helpful.  In the end we went with the Scottish way where by the Piper leads the Bride and her father down the aisle, which was beautiful and perfect.  I went in to Highland Cathedral and came out to Highland Wedding, and Johnny also played as we came across in the cot it was beautiful and a heartfelt thank you goes to Johnny, he is wonderful on the bagpipes.

 

Glendale Limos, Omagh – http://www.omaghlimousines.com/

info@omaghlimousines.com – 028 8224 6222 or 07730 000537 – Nigel

A massive thank you to Nigel, and to our driver Lawrence.  Fantastic service as always, there is no better Limo service here in Northern Ireland than Glendale Limos, the selection of cars and Limousines is fantastic and the drivers are great craic, whether it’s for weddings or a special occasion or even just a run to the Airport, Glendale Limos are the best.  Thank you Nigel, for everything.

 

Share Centre, Lisnaskea – http://www.sharevillage.org

olwen@sharevillage.org – 028 6772 2122 – Olwen

The Share Centre hosted our Evening Reception and they did such an amazing job it was unreal, so a massive thank you to Olwen and staff for everything, they way they dressed the room was breath-taking EVERYONE was astounded.  The catering for the evening was also unbelievable, the food amazing and EVERYONE was talking about it, and indeed they still are, so a massive thank you also to Elaine Bloomfield and her staff for such an amazing spread.  Also we would like to thank the bar staff as well, they were excellent and again Everyone commented on how good they were and how much fun they were as well.  For an evening reception the Share Centre certainly out-did ALL expectations, and it was fantastic, thank you.

 

The Supersers, Fivemiletown – Our Local Band

028 8952 1432 – David Hopper

AMAZING, is not even close, The Supersers were fantastic, their 3 man bad was second to none and the dance floor was never empty, the range of music they played was loved by all our guests young and old, and there was no better way to celebrate than to have such a wonderful band playing that everyone loved.  A Massive thank you to the Supersers, you did an amazing job, and what was even nicer was that you guys enjoyed it so much as well no-one noticed the time!!!!  Great Craic and a fantastic band.

 

Flowers by Anne @ the Barn, Fintona

annejohnston678@btinternet.com - 028 8284 1247 – Anne Johnston

All the flowers, and indeed Butterflies, were done by Anne Johnston, from Fintona.  I knew nothing of flowers only that I wanted Scottish Heather and Eryngium (a thistle like plant) in the flowers.  Anna and I chatted for ages about the colours and that I didn’t want pure white etc, then she showed me various flowers in a book to let me see what they were like and I loved them, adding in Gladioli and Gerbera.  Our Flowers were a mix of Eustoma – purple tip, Freesia – Purple and Pink tones, Eryngium – Silvery Thistle, Avalanche Rose – White Rose, Allium – Pinkish and greens, Eucalyptus, Bare Grass, White & Pink Heather, gladioli – Pinky, Baby’s breath, and Gerbera.  Anne did an amazing job, the flowers were fantastic and the Butterflies and tartan ribbon among it was perfect.  I owe Anne a massive thank you and for anyone looking for flowers, Anne does an amazing job whether you want a little or a lot, to a gentle touch or big and fancy, Anne will do an amazing job.

 

Galloway Heathers, Newtown Stewart,  Near Cairnryan – http://www.gallowayheathers.com/index.asp

mail@gallowayheathers.com - 01671 402360 – Noel

Galloway Heathers provided all the heather for the wedding, as there was no heather available in Northern Ireland.  Noel was great and once he knew what we needed, he provided us with whichever variety was ready at the time we were able to collect it, and we got it in Pots so that is lasted and travelled better.  We also used 9cm pots in silver buckets for our table centre’s which worked perfectly.  Noel went out of his way to accommodate us when Alan’s ferry was delayed, so instead of Alan having to be there hours early, Noel went back to the nursery and met him late evening nearer the ferry time.  Thank you Noel for everything.

 

Wedding Shoes Direct – http://www.weddingshoesdirect.co.uk/

info@weddingshoesdirect.co.uk – 0844 8464 410

A Massive thank you to Wedding Shoes direct.  I have a disability and so cannot wear heels, I had a nightmare to find shoes, I usually go to a friend Desi Quinn, Enniskillen but sadly he wasn’t able to help me.  My Mum found Wedding Shoes Direct and they had a massive selection, sending me a few pairs to see and suggesting a Children’s style which was also made in Adult sizes, this proved to be the winner and once we had the shoe, they applied diamante to it and then scotch guarded it – I highly recommend scotch guard, its fantastic, I went through a muddy area, and the shoes looked wreaked but I wasn’t bothered and the photographer wanted to capture it on camera so we walked out on the damp grass and then when we lifted up the dress the shoes were CLEAN the scotch guard protected them and the wet grass just cleaned them, was hilarious!! We also got the bridesmaids shoes here as well as one had really wide feet, and this was the only place with a wide fitting.  Fantastic service and great dying service too.

 

SD Kells, Enniskillen – Kilt Hire – http://www.sdkells.co.uk/wedding.html

028 6632 5570 – Ken

A Big Thank you to Ken, at S D Kells for helping to sort out the Kilts for the men, as there is no Bothwell Tartan, Alan chose a tartan from the hire company Pride of Scotland, Aberdeen, which is a generic tartan, and it was called Pride of Scotland Platinum Tartan.  The entire outfit worked out better value than if they had gone for suits, but my Alan doesn’t do suits, the do not suit him!!!  But the Kilt, wow, the men in their kilts look amazing.  Kells even made cravats from the Bridesmaids material for us as well.

Kyra Nelson – 07865818889

She Came to Crom Castle and Did my Hair, as well as coming to me twice for a Hair Trial, she was amazing and did a fantastic job of my hair.

Lesley’s Beautique – 02889521100

They did our nails and Vicky came to the castle on the day to do our make up and she did a wonderful job, very natural and matt which was good for photos.  We went for Gel nails on the advice of Vicky as I can never keep white tips so this worked perfectly and I had butterflies on my toes which was great.

Stationary, Invites, Place Card Menus, Order of Service, Guest Book etc

Well, these I designed myself.  My Mum offered to make them as she was in Scotland and not able to help me all that much with the planning, so she knew that if I had had my craft stuff with me I would have done it so as it was all still at home and it was something Mum could do she offered to make them, and my goodness what an amazing job she did, the Stationary was fantastic.  I have an amazing Mum, and Gran.  They both did it together and I believe they got help too from my “Aunt” Moira Myles.  So a Massive thank you to them.

 

The Mad Dancers

Well that is a groups of Mum and Dad’s Friends – “Uncle” Norman and “Aunt” Moira Myles, their daughter Pamela and “Granddad” Norman and Kath McMenigall, also My Uncle Alan, though he isn’t a Mad Dancer, but to them I would like to say a Huge thank you, for they helped out in many ways up to our wedding and on the day.

Also what made you choose Bespoken For? I googled Tiara’s as I could find nothing I liked that I could afford, and ones I could afford were not nice, then BeSpoken for popped up on a search so I e-mailed, and that was that.  Jenni was so helpful and patient, all the communications by e-mail were worth it when you see the end result – perfect, what more can I say, if you want a Tiara go nowhere else for you won’t find better, designed to suit what you need and your budget.  In one word – Fantastic.

 And anything else you’d like to say.

In all honesty if it wasn’t for all those who helped us, Noel and Amanda from Crom Castle, Norman from Saddlers, Olwen and Elaine from Share Centre, The Supersers, Anne from Flowers by Anne and all the others who helped us our day would not have been so amazing but above all that it was our family and friends who joined us who also helped make the day as well.  To those who traveled many many miles – thank you for coming especially to Alan’s Best Man Glen Skaggs and his wife Ida who came all the way from Loudon, Tennessee, to Alan’s sister Amanda, and her 2 children Kelton and Andrea who came all the way from Fairfield, Connecticut and also to Kelton and Andrea for doing a superb job of the reading in the church.  My family who all travelled from Scotland to be with us and indeed everyone who came, thank you.  Our day was  to us more than perfect, it was more than we ever thought it could be but was over in a flash, so much so that we would both love to go back in time to the Friday and live it all over again because it was so special and perfect, we loved every minute of it and the saddest part was leaving Crom Castle on the Sunday, we didn’t want to go.  A fantastic venue that made it that much more special because you can go to a hotel any day but Crom Castle was special for it was that once in a lifetime setting, magical.  It’s not often you are handed the keys to a castle and left to your own devices, to us it was home, and always will be.