We are so incredibly excited to share with you an absolutely stunning wedding Waterlily Weddings had the pleasure to help produce this past spring at one of our favorite venues, Mount Juliet Estate in picturesque Kilkenny.  Anny & Brian’s wedding is full of gorgeous details, from an insanely perfect garden backdrop complete with spring flowers in full bloom to incredible personalized details like the stationary and cake topper which were designed by Anny herself, to the most adorable hand-painted koala macaroons for dessert.  A delicious, expertly prepared six-course meal complete with wine list hand-picked by these two wine connoisseurs was served in the stunning Georgian dining room on the estate, elegantly decorated in a contemporary botanical style that felt fresh and seasonal and modern but timeless all at once.  Mishy — our lead designer and stylist — worked closely with Anny and Brian to solidify a color palette of that would shine in the spring season, and helped conceptualize some of the finer details that make this wedding simply outstanding. And there to capture the day, the the incredibly talented Pawel of Pawel Bebenca Photography.  The details, the perfectly executed personalization, that gorgeous dress, the food and wine and everything in between…. add one of the most spectacular sunny days Ireland has ever seen in April and you have a truly outstanding wedding day Waterlily Weddings is happy to share with you today as a Featured Wedding of 2018.  Please enjoy and make sure to check out the slideshow and details below!

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From SoCal Garden Proposal to an Irish Garden Wedding

Anny and Brian met at work when Brian was interviewing Anny for a job! They became fast friends and slowly started dating. One day, they flew back from NY to CA to Anny’s hometown in Southern California for a visit with her family and they made their way to Huntington Library — a beautiful local private park and museum.  They toured the library and the gorgeous grounds for a few hours, Brian secretly trying to find the perfect moment to propose, but it never quite came. Finally, as the sun began to descend and the library neared closing, Brian asked Anny to sit down with him on a bench. There, in the beautiful garden, he dropped to one knee and proposed. And of course she said yes!

They knew they wanted a special, unique wedding.  Brian had studied at Trinity College and loved Ireland, and brought Anny back to show her his old stomping grounds in 2015.  Anny fell in love with the Emerald Isle herself, and they agreed it’d be the perfect place to host their wedding. “The beauty, the wilderness, the soul … all of it appealed to us. Add to that the people are just so incredibly welcoming and friendly…it was perfect,”  says Anny.

When it came time to pick a venue, Anny and Brian thought it best to tour about Ireland to see what fit best.  “With both of us in the wine industry, we are very big into food and wine,” Anny says, and they wanted to make sure that was well represented on their day.  “We wanted to be able to bring in our own wines, the food needed to be exceptional, and we also wanted the feel of a weekend party where all of our 60 guests could feel comfortable and we could all be together.”  Mount Juliet fit the bill completely on all accounts. “We loved that we were able to pull off a whole weekend there for our family and friends — having events and activities all on the estate helped to create an incredible, intimate weekend party feel.”

Straight Out of a Page in Pride & Prejudice

Anny and Brian’s wedding day ended up being a spectacular 70 degree sunny day in April.  It rained the entire week leading up, and the indoor ceremony Anny and Brian had already resigned themselves to early on in the planning process was looking like a real possibility, but Fate intervened.  “Mishy convinced us to entertain the idea of having the ceremony outdoors,” says Anny, “which turned out to be the best decision ever! She convinced us to explore it as an option and have it be a last minute decision based on the weather, and it turned out great. The humanist ceremony took place outside the house in one of the intimate gardens around a round lily pond at center.  The grounds were in full spring glory — trees were just starting to blossom small buds and leaves, their branches covered in green moss looked stunning against the bright blue sky. The grounds were carpeted in soft grass and wildflowers in purples, pinks, and whites, and the birds chirped happily in the warm spring sun. As you can see from the pictures, nothing beats an Irish spring!

The Incredible Details

Part of what makes Anny and Brian’s wedding distinguishable from the rest is the incredible attention to detail and the use of personal touches throughout.  We created their color palette based on spring — Anny and Brian loved navy, white and green tones, so we used that combination as a base point but added in some lilac to soften the palette and invoke a bit of that springtime vibe.  The colors worked great in the dining room, offering a really clean and modern presentation on a classic Georgian era undertone and they echoed the colors going on in the garden and ceremony space just perfectly. We added some mercury glass metallic detail in soft silvers and golds, lots of candles, and some deeper greenery to add texture.  Anny and Brian love fragrant eucalyptus, so we  made sure to include a bit throughout the wedding — bouquet, table details, decor.

Anny designed the stationary herself.  She pencil-sketched the estate and we thought it’d be amazing to include that sketch in the invitation suite, but also echo it at the reception on the menus as well.  She also created this incredible “AB” logo that looked like a shamrock in silhouette, but also sitting encircled — a nod to Mount Juliet’s famous moon window in one of the gardens where they took a picture for their save-the-dates.

The cake was expertly constructed based on our color palette and presented beautifully by Jen of Cupcakes & Counting. Brian and Anny wanted to serve macaroons, and taking the opportunity to personalize again, they had koalas hand-painted on the cookies — an inside joke between them.

The wine was a big feature for them as they both work in the wine industry.  They chose to serve a Burgundy (their personal favorite) –Ghislaine Barthod Bourgogne Rouge 2010 and Dauvissat Petit Chablis 2014 for the white featured.  To toast, a Krug Grande Cuvee was the champagne of choice — a nod to their first date at Aureole in NYC as well as a dear friend.

We love thoughtful details. Brian’s wedding gift to Anny was a red leather bound journal he’d been writing in almost every day for the year leading up to their wedding day.  He presented it to her on the morning of their wedding day, and as she was getting ready she was reading through his thoughts, feelings, sometimes little quips — swoon!

A Piece of Advice

Anny: “Enjoy all of it. The planning can get stressful, especially when abraod, but somehow it will all work. Try to account for as much as you can beforehand, especially with weather. DEFINITELY hire Michelle/Waterlily Weddings — having Michelle as an on-the-day coordinator was the best and most reassuring thing — to know that someone else is taking charge and responsible for how the day is going so you can RELAX and ENJOY THE DAY!”

Brian: “Eat breakfast the morning of your wedding. I didn’t eat breakfast and I should have. That should be mandatory!”

Anny and Brian — it was an absolute dream working with you both during the planning phase. You were such a delight to work with — being open to suggestions, having such a great positive attitude and really embracing the creative process so that we could add those personal touches that really make your wedding stand out and have that special meaning everyone there will remember. We wish you both a happy life together, full of travel adventures and Santorini sunsets and the best wine and food on the planet to guide your days!!

For more information on this gorgeous wedding, talented vendors, and how to get started planning your dream spring Irish garden wedding, CONTACT us today!