Real Weddings: Katie and Chris’ sun-soaked celebration in Markree Castle
Secondary school sweethearts Katie and Chris tied the knot on the warmest day of the year this past summer. With a romantic, sun-soaked reception at Markree Castle, Co Sligo, their celebration was filled with personal flair, unique details, and pure joy.
THE COUPLE
Katie, a primary school teacher, and Chris, an electronics engineer.
THEY LIVE
In Athlone, Co Westmeath. We squeezed as much out of city-living in Dublin as we could before going travelling in 2023. We’re both from Roscommon, so we then decided to move closer to home!
THE VENUE
The ceremony was in St Bride’s Church, Ballintubber, Co Roscommon (Katie’s home parish), with the reception in Markree Castle, Co Sligo.
The journey between the two was made longer than expected by a road closure, so we had our ushers set up some snacks for the road outside the church to send everyone on their way.
PHOTOGRAPHY
Gemma Dunne (Your Wild Way photography) and Stephen Kilfeather (Wanderlust Wedding Films). Gemma and Stephen were both such cheerful, fun presences on the day and they put us all very much at ease! We aren’t very confident in front of the camera, but they made us feel so comfortable. We really wanted to let the day happen without forcing anything, and they both did that so well – they kept the day running so smoothly without putting any pressure on us, and lots of our guests commented on how unobtrusive they were. Gemma even had some preview photos for us by the time we woke up the next morning, which was such a fantastic surprise!
THEY MET
In The Green Rooster in Roscommon town, one fateful Halloween night out when we were in secondary school! Chris managed to win Katie over after getting her number three times and losing his phone each time, but the third time was the charm, as it was found in the pub the next day. We’ve been together happily for over 12 years since.
THE PROPOSAL
We had just come back from six months of travelling and moved to Athlone – it was a busy time, but Chris decided we needed to go for a day out in Galway! I was VERY reluctant between the unpacking that needed to be done and the terrible weather (wettest July on record), but he managed to convince me with promises of the Barbie movie and a meal in Ruibín. He had planned to propose on the prom in Salthill but had to pivot when the weather didn’t clear – I was delighted to have the privacy to bawl crying in the hotel room!
He knew that I would want my family around after a moment like that, which made Galway the perfect choice – my sister Sarah arrived bearing champagne within the hour, and then we were able to celebrate with family the next day before heading west to the Ardagh Hotel in Clifden to let it all sink in.
THE WEDDING ATTIRE
When we got engaged, I had no idea what style of dress I wanted to go for, but after my first appointment, it became very clear what suited me (and what didn’t!). I tried on so many beautiful dresses in so many shops, but when I finally went to Kadee Bridal, we were certain that Degas by Suzanne Neville was the dress for me. I felt amazing in it, and it was so comfortable – it was the hottest day of the year but I was well able to walk the grounds of Markree and dance all night! I wanted my four gorgeous bridesmaids to feel great on the day, so we went for four different styles of dress in the same colour and fabric from Azazie.
Chris knew that he wanted a tux and, once I’d talked him out of going for a green one, he decided on a black velvet jacket from Donnellan’s in Roscommon town. He rented tuxes for his groomsmen from Eddie Murphy Menswear.
THE CEREMONY
The ceremony took place in St Bride’s Church, Ballintubber, which is my home parish. The church holds so many memories for our family and myself and Chris knew that we really wanted to get married there, so that was our starting point when planning. The ceremony was really important to us and we wanted to make it as personal as possible with lots of family and friends involved.
The celebrant was Fr Eamonn O’Connor, who is my uncle and who has been a central part of so many family events for as long as I can remember. It meant so much to us to have Eamonn be the one to marry us; he went above and beyond when preparing us for the day and he made the ceremony so personal.
We were so lucky to have Eibhlin Rice, one of our best friends, perform at our ceremony. Eibhlin has been entertaining us since we met in college with her beautiful voice and guitar-playing. She helped us so much with every aspect, from choosing songs to figuring out the timings, and she made the ceremony so special for us and for our guests. I walked down the aisle to Dreams by the Cranberries and our exit song was Everywhere by Fleetwood Mac, with so many other meaningful songs throughout the mass.
THE RECEPTION
When we viewed Markree Castle, we were blown away by the grounds, the stunning interiors and the amazing staff. When they showed us around the impressive grounds, the gorgeous, ornately decorated dining room and down to the separate dancefloor with bars on either side, we gave each other a look that said ‘this is the place’. It’s such a unique venue with so many different areas available and the staff are unbelievably helpful and flexible.
The weather was absolutely on our side, so we were able to have our drinks reception outside on the terrace. Our guests were able to enjoy their drinks, canapes, and boozy ice pops under parasols or while strolling around the grounds and it really created a holiday atmosphere. We also had our speeches outside on the steps before dinner and our first dance in the beautiful courtyard surrounded by sparklers.
THE ENTERTAINMENT
We had Tea For Three perform at our drinks reception who performed jazzy instrumental versions of a wide range of tunes; their sound really suited the venue and helped to create such a relaxed, fun vibe while everyone was mingling.
We also booked The Sixty-Five’s band and DJ package for the evening and we were so impressed with them. We found it hard to choose a band but we went to see them play live and loved how they got the crowd going. Cathal was so easy to deal with and has an amazing voice! They played all of our requests and read the crowd really well – the dancefloor wasn’t empty for a minute.
THE DECOR
This was an area where we felt we could turn it from ‘a wedding’ into ‘OUR wedding’. Markree really does speak for itself, so we tried to add small touches to make the castle ours for the day. The staff were so helpful in setting everything up – they even erected a Roscommon flag at the entrance for us!
We had custom tuxedo-adorned pint glass cufflinks from Castleknock Designs for the lads and personalised beer mats designed by Chris on Vista Print. The beermats had the QR code for Wedibox, a photo-sharing app – it was such a treat to see the day through our guests’ eyes while on honeymoon.
We were absolutely blessed with the weather, so we were delighted we had bought boozy ice pops from Wavey Ice for the reception, as well as some classic Mr Freezes.
Our seating plan was designed by mam, Una Gill. We named each table after a pub that means something to us, and Mammy was enlisted to do a watercolour painting of each one. She did an unbelievable job and it’s one of our favourite aspects of the day.
Our guest book was a Story Map, which detailed milestones in our relationship, which was custom-designed by Adela from Adela’s Art. It added another lovely personal touch to the day and it’s something we’ll treasure.
Shirley from Future Flowers in Roscommon did the beautiful church flowers and decorated the space with such care. She gave us great advice on how to reuse these in Markree. We had a lot of help from our friends, who transported all the arrangements for us, and from the staff in Markree, who even cut up one of the arrangements and put them into bud vases to use on our tables. The beautiful stairs in Markree needed a special touch and we’d been admiring the Flower Shed on Instagram throughout the planning – Olga did a beautiful job and was so lovely to deal with.
THEIR TOP TIPS
There’s great satisfaction in pulling off a huge project like the wedding together and, while it can slow things down, we found that making as many of the decisions together as possible really added to the unity of the day and made the planning process a lot more enjoyable.
The more personal you want to make it, the more work you are bringing on yourselves, but it’s so exciting to see it all come together on the day.
Our wedding wouldn’t have been the amazing day it was without the help of so many friends and family and we also went with lots of lovely local suppliers, which made the day feel really relaxed.
THEY WISH THEY HAD
Planned things a bit more consistently! We were engaged for two years, but somehow a lot of the actual work was done in the first and final three months…
It all gets done, though, and the stress is a distant memory once the day arrives!
THEIR BEST MOMENTS
We loved the speeches so much. We both spoke, as did my sister and Chris’ brother and Dad. The speeches were very emotional, because Chris’ mum and my dad have passed away, but we were very glad to have the opportunity to remember and honour them and to thank all of our wonderful friends and family.
We decided that Chris would drive us from the church to Markree Castle instead of having a chauffer and it turned out to be an amazing decision as it gave us an uninterrupted chunk of time just the two of us to breathe and take it all in. He drove his grandfather’s old Mercedes, which was a nice link to the past and gave us some privacy.
Our first dance was something we were quite nervous about, but looking back, it’s one of our favourite moments! The courtyard in Markree is a unique and intimate setting for a first dance, but it was so special to be surrounded by our loved ones holding sparklers. We danced to a live version of What a Love by The Coronas from a concert in Cork that we had been to years before and it really added atmosphere on the day.
Eibhlin was kind enough to whip out the guitar again for the last ones standing at 6am – we love a sing-song, and that’s another very special memory.
THE FIRST DANCE SONG
Our first dance was What a Love by the Coronas, which was a surprise to absolutely nobody, as we’ve seen them live so many times. As it took place in the courtyard, the guests then had to move into where the band were ready and waiting, so the wonderful staff had trays of shots ready to get the party started on the way in!
THE CREW
Dress: Suzanne Neville (bought in Kadee Bridal, Athlone); Tux: Remus Uomo (bought in Donnellan’s, Roscommon); Bridesmaids’ and flower girls’ dresses: Azazie; Groomsmen’s tuxes: Eddie Murphy Menswear; Florist: Future Flowers Roscommon (bouquets and church flowers) and The Flower Shed, Sligo (Markree stairs); Cake: Park Lane Cakes (delicious and beautiful!); Hair: Bridal Hair by Kelly O’Sullivan; Make-up: Kelly O’Dowd; Wedding car: Smyths Roscommon; Day Two venue: Austie’s Rosses Point (an amazing seaside spot with delicious food that was well able to accommodate all of us as well as their usual crowd. Lorna and her team are amazing!); Day Two music: David Hughes; Invitations: Blush Designs; Ceremony booklets: The Aisle.
See more photographs from Katie and Chris’ wedding in the gallery below.
Photography by Gemma Dunne (Your Wild Way photography).
Want to see your Real Wedding on IMAGE.ie? Email shayna.healy@image.ie with the subject line ‘Real Wedding’.
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