Timmy and Victoria

Timmy and I are both from the same town in Ireland. We first met at a mutual friend’s birthday party when we were 16 years old – we have known eachother for almost 12 years! We dated for about a year when we were still in school and it wasn’t until 5 years later at another mutual friend’s birthday party that we reconnected.  Six months later we travelled to Australia together, planning to only stay a year, but we settled in Brisbane and have been here for over 5 years!

We had always talked about getting married some day and I knew it would happen when the timing was right. I only had one demand for Timmy… let me choose the ring! On December 31st 2008, on a holiday to New York, Timmy dropped to one knee in the snow outside Tiffanys 5th Avenue. I of course said yes and urged him to get off one knee as the busy New Yorkers trampled all over him! We picked the ring together and rang in the New Year in Times Square, with only the two of us knowing about our engagement. A couple of days later we flew back home to Ireland to share the news in person with all our family and friends. It was so special to be back home with everyone to celebrate our engagement and to see their reaction to our big news. We knew straight away that when we started planning our wedding day it would have to be at home in Ireland, celebrating with those closest to us.

I loved the idea of wearing an Australian designer at my Irish wedding and chose an Alex Perry dress. The dress was a lace applique bodice, with an oversized bow at the waist and a full tulle skirt. I teamed it with an Alex Perry full length veil, Jenny Packham hair comb and gold Louboutins. Timmy wore a Hugo Boss tuxedo which looked great alongside my dress. Our bridesmaids wore Vera Wang dresses that I ordered from America.

Planning the wedding from the other side of the world meant that we relied on our family and bridal party a lot for help! At stages I think my parents would have felt they were planning their own wedding! The wedding itself was a real family affair; my 2 sisters and 2 best friends served as bridesmaids, Timmy’s niece served as flowergirl and Timmy had his cousin, brother in law and 3 childhood friends serve as groomsmen. We involved friends and family with readings during the ceremony and a friend of Timmy’s sang ‘It Must Be Love’ by Madness as we left the church. We were also lucky enough to have Timmy’s very talented cousin Mark look after all the flowers for the wedding, they were beautiful!

Our wedding was held at Timmy’s local church St James Church Bushypark, Galway – he was able to walk down to the church from his house!

The reception was held at The Lodge at Ashford, a boutique hotel in the Irish countryside. It was a summer wedding in Ireland but sunshine is never a guarantee there, lucky for us we were blessed with one of the brightest days of the summer! We carried all our wedding stationery from Australia, designed by a Brisbane based designer Invite with Style.

We chose to serve cupcakes in place of a traditional wedding cake from a local company the Galway Cupcakery. We displayed photo frames of our parents on their wedding days alongside the cupcake stand.

We flew our photographer David Jenkins from the UK for our big day. I had stumbled across David’s website while scouring the internet and fell in love with his style of photography. David captured the most beautiful moments of the day.

In place of favours we had a photobooth at our reception. It was such a great ice breaker for our guests – there was the most random combination of guests having their photos taken together! We sourced handmade moustaches and glasses on sticks as props from Etsy.

Our first dance was to Robbie Williams ‘Angels’ a song that was released around the same time as Timmy and I first started dating. The dancing continued until about 3 in the morning – we couldn’t get people off the dance floor!

I always tell Timmy that I knew he was ‘the one’ as soon as I met him and now I know I was right all along. Our wedding day was everything we wanted it to be – a fantastic celebration of our love surrounded by all our family and friends.

Photography by David Jenkins

Ms Gingham says: What do I choose as my favourite? The Vera Wang bridesmaid’s dresses or the dapper Hugo Boss tuxedo? Actually, I think that (as it should be) the bride steals the show with the gorgeous Alex Perry gown! Beautiful!

Victoria says: “Newlywed, Reality TV junkie, Online Shopaholic . . . . Love to travel especially to my favourite city in the world, New York where I always eat too much, drink too much and spend too much! Originally from Ireland but living in Brisbane for the past 5 years with my childhood sweetheart and now husband Timmy. Miss my family and friends but absence makes the heart grow fonder right?”