WeddingDates.ie

Today I had the opportunity to check out the showrooms of a brand new menswear supplier in Cork:  Lapel 1865.  It has only been opened for about 4 weeks, but has a fantastic range of stock and the showrooms are set up exactly like a bridal shop with private suites for the groom and wedding party to relax and try on a selection of morning suits and formal wear for weddings.

They are doing a fanastic deal whereby every suit they rent for the wedding comes with a brand new shirt which you get to keep along with the cufflinks!

Their showrooms are in the Frankfield Business Park, around the corner from Musgraves Cash and Carry on the Airport Road.  They are well worth a visit, very different from many of the other mainstream menswear shops, where you end up trying on your wedding suit right on the shop floor.  Pat and his team give a personal consultation to each bride & groom and help them select the suits and then allow plenty of time for fittings with the entire wedding party in a comfortable and relaxed environment.

Next door to Lapel 1865, the well known Bridal Shop Rice And Roses are having an open day this Sunday where they are offering 10% discounts to brides who buy their dress on the day.  Usually by appointment only, this is a fantastic opportunity to go in and take a look at the huge range of stock they have and avail of a fantastic discount into the bargain!

Lapel 1865 is also open on Sunday offering the same deal for the menswear, so don’t forget to bring along the husband-to-be!

I have to pass this offer on to you ladies out there looking for a photographer for your wedding.  As you all know photographers are probably one of the most expensive things on the wedding budget list and the end result is all important.  Wouldn’t it be nice to have an extra photographer on the day to get shots from different angles or even be in different places capturing the maximum enjoyment of your wedding.

One option is to ask an up-and-coming photographer come along to do your wedding – many of them will do if for free for the experience!  A good place to find these people are on discussion boards (try www.boards.ie)

An amateur photographer who came along to my launch took some fantastic shots and has offered to work for free as a second photographer for a wedding.  In exchange she would use some of your photos for her professional photographic portfolio.  As part of the arrangement, she is also offering to provide the following free of cost: a DVD containing all wedding photos, 40 – 60 professionally edited photographs (in Adobe Photoshop).  Now, you won’t come across an offer like that every day!

For more information or to view a portfolio of her work, contact:

Magdalena Lukasiewicz  087 055 0855
lukasiewicz.magdalena@gmail.com

You can have the benefit of 2 photographers on your big day and only have to pay for one!

Get ready for your close up ladies!

Wedding Dresses cost big bucks these days and along with the band and the photographer are probably the most expensive thing that you will spend your money on apart from the venue.  After all, you want to look FABULOUS on your big day!  But, what happens after that?!  What to do with the dress that you will probably only wear once in your lifetime?

Impress Wedding Dress Solutions offer a Nationwide Service where they dry clean and preserve your wedding gown so it will stand the test of time.  And all at the minimum of effort to you!  They will collect your dress anywhere in the country, bring it to their depot in Cork where they professionally clean the dress and then preserve it in specially designed museum boxes which protect the dress from sunlight and dust.  They then deliver it back to your door for you so you can keep it for years to come.

The cost is €115.00 to have the dress cleaned and an additional €95.00 for the preservation.  Sounds pricey, but if you have spent thousands on buying the dress in the first place, you may want to spend the money to keep it in mint condition.

How about you guys?  Any brides out there have suggestions on storing the dress afterwards or what happened your dress after your big day?!

We had wedding cupcakes at the launch party and they were a complete hit with everyone there.  In the planning stages, when I was working out my numbers and planning the supplies needed for the party, my Mum smiled knowingly and tried to reassure me that while a ‘cute’ idea, not everyone would actually eat a “cupcake” and 80 would be MORE than enough.  For a party of 200.  My father confessed told me AFTER all of the cupcakes were done that he didn’t actually know what we had been on about for the past few days and simply went along with things to keep the peace.  “Sher, aren’t they just queen-cakes, whats all this fuss about cupcakes about?”

ANYWAY, contrary to the widely held belief by my family that I was gone cupcake-crazy (they were actually the part of the party that caused me the most stress and worry) they were one of the big hits of the night, with people commenting on them and even leaving messages in the guestbook about how much they had enjoyed them.

So I guess the moral of the story is: People like cake.  They like tiny bitesize sweet things and they like edible things to look pretty.  Our wedding cupcakes ticked all of those boxes.  We bought about 80 of them from O’Hara’s bakery for about €2.00 for a dozen and the rest were homemade.  About 50 by my Mum, and 100 more by one of her friends.  All of them were iced by hand the day before and the day of the party.  They turned out fantastic and were EXACTLY what I had in mind when I planned all of this in my head.  We displayed them on cute little 3 tiered cupcakes stands (homemade by the genius that is Sabrina Dent) and they were the perfect sweet treat for people on the night.

Wedding Cupcakes are a cute and different idea to replace the wedding cake.  Or indeed go WITH the wedding cake!  If, like me you are working on a budget you CAN DIY them.  Just make sure you (or whoever is making them for you) do a few trial runs.  Not only with the mixture itself, but with the icing.  We used butter icing dyed with food colouring, but I was reliably informed it took a good few trail batches to get the colour JUST RIGHT.  ;) You can buy piping bags and nozzles from any good bakery supplies shop but again, do a test run.  My Mum and her pal had never even picked up a piping bag in their lives before attempting mine on the morning of the launch, but they learned fast and the end results were perfect.

If however you aren’t willing to hand over that level of responsibility to someone or would rather NOT to have to worry about the colour of the frosting on your cake days or even hours before your big day, then I can heartily recommend both of these suppliers of delicious cupcakes.

Dublin Cupcakes supplied delicious  dainty cakes for the Irish Web Awards held in Dublin last year and they were a big hit on the night with all in attendance.  The almost luminous icing which coloured peoples faces, and fingers and tongues on the night is testament to that!

This weekend, for the Irish Blog Awards held down in my fair county of Cork the lovely Jo from PíosaCake supplied the ladies of the pre-awards Tea Party with the lightest and fluffiest carrotcake cupcakes I have ever tasted.  They were devine and the men bloggers were howling at the door of the apartment to get a taste of them!

Awards season is upon us, with the Golden Globes last month and the Oscars tonight.  But the biggest awards event in the Irish Blogosphere had to be the Irish Blog Awards which were held last night in the Cork International Airport Hotel.  Hotly anticipated, this was the 4th year of the blog awards and by all accounts topped all previous years!  It was my first year in attendance and it has to be said it was a fantastic night, all thanks to the legend that is Damien Mulley who organised the whole thing.

Congratulations to all of the winners, I was delighted to meet some people for the first time who’s blogs I have been reading.

During the week, Damien was on to me to wear my wedding dress and while I love nothing more than an opportunity to shimmy into my little white number, I was a tad nervous about facing 300 bloggers dressed as a bride at 7pm in the evening.  But thanks to our host for the evening, Rick O’Shea demanding it from the stage, I scooted upstairs during the break and doned the gown.

weddingdates.ie presents the Golden Envelope (picture courtesy of Marcus MacInnes)

The ever-gentlemanly David Maybury walked me down the aisle as I presented the Golden Envelope for the Grand Prix Award to Rick.  The overall award was very deservingly scooped by Suzy Byrne from Mamanpoulet.com.  Other highlights for me were:

• Trust Tommy – Best newcomer
• K8 The GR8 – Best Blog Post
• Sweary @ Arse End of Ireland – Best Humour
• Rapture Ponies – Best Popculture
• Beaut.ie – Best Fashion & Beauty
• Nialler9 – Best Music

And most especially, Annie Rhiannon for Best Personal Blog.  I adore Annie’s writing and excitedly followed her trip across the States through my RSS feed.

All in all, a fantastic night, the hotel staff were incredibly accomodating to all of us roudy bloggers and the finger food and cocktails were especially excellent.  The Cork International Airport Hotel DOES also do weddings, for the couple who might want something a little quirky and off-beat and you can check the availability for your big day here

For my lavish walk down the aisle of the hotel, the bloggers avoided the traditional wedding march…..Billy Idol’s White Wedding was the choon that we did the bridal-walk to.  Enjoy!

Billy Idol – White Wedding

For those of you who didn’t make it to the launch event of the year, you can check out what you missed on the night – we have a short video up on You Tube:

Wedding Dates Launch Party

With HUGE thanks to the suppliers who made the night truely memorable.  The Venue, the Cork Vision Centre was truely spectacular and I’m sure plenty of the wedding couples who attended got some great ideas for “alternative” venues, particularly for civil ceremony wedding.
ENTERTAINMENT ON THE NIGHT WAS PROVIDED BY:

• String Quartet
  APOLLO QUARTET
  Contact Tom Crowley – 087 9396806
• Magician
  Ger Kearney – Close up Magician
  www.gerkearney.com
• The Band
  The Marvels
  Europe’s #1 High Energy Band – www.themarvels.ie
• Disc Jockey
  Nationwide Event DJs
  IRELAND’S DJ NETWORK – www.irelandsdjnetwork.ie

THIS EVENT BROUGHT TO YOU WITH THE HELP OFTHESE GENEROUS, FABULOUS BUSINESSES:

• Wine and Champagne
  CURIOUS WINES
  Ireland’s Mixed Case Wine Specialists
  http://www.curiouswines.ie
• Beer and Bar
  ON TAP
  Event Bars, Corporate Functions & Home Parties
  http://www.ontap.ie
• Suit Hire
  MORLEY’S FORMAL HIRE
  Grand Parade, Cork
  http://www.morleys.ie

• The Bentley
  BRACKEN’S WEDDING CARS
  Contact Jordan Bracken – 087 2780700
• Wedding Cake Display
  BRACKEN’S BAKERY
  Old Mallow Road, Cork
  (021) 302777

The new civil ceremony laws now mean that you can get married in any building that is open to the public and the first “Rugby-Love” wedding was held on Valentines day in Thomond Park in Limerick.  What a unique and unusual venue for your wedding, but perfect if you are a rugger-hugger and you want your passion brought through to your wedding day!

Love on the Pitch

Mymunster.com has the full story on how the loved-up couple ended up tying the knot on the hallowed ground of Thomand Park.  The wedding reception was the first to be held in Thomond Park’s new state-of-the art function room under the East Stand, which can accommodate up to 500 people. There are five more weddings booked for the stadium.  If you are thinking about having your wedding in Thomond Park, just make sure your bridesmaids like red!  Come on Munster!

PRESS RELEASE

Lucky for some! Friday 13th special Valentine’s Wedding
WeddingDates.ie is unveiled as the Brides #1 choice

Cork, Ireland – Friday the 13th was the auspicious date that Ciara Crossan chose to launch her new business weddingdates.ie by re-creating a very special Valentine’s wedding in the Cork Vision Centre on North Main Street.

The Bride and Groom arrived in a Bentley and sashayed up a pink carpet to enter the converted church.  Over 200 guests at the “Wedding” were treated to a champagne reception and pink and blue wedding cupcakes.  The scale model of Cork which dominates the Vision Centre was a great backdrop to launch a proudly Cork-based business and it glittered on the evening with fairy lights.  Some special guests included Niamh O’Hanlon, the Cork Rose and Catriona O’Connor, the Rose of Roscommon who were delighted to show their support for a budding new business.  Catriona commented, “The website is a great idea, a really simple concept but so helpful for people planning their weddings in Ireland.  I will be passing it on to the overseas Roses who are thinking of coming to Ireland to get married!”

Special guests Jenny the"bride" and Triona the Rose of Roscommon (c) Peter Sweeney 2009

Over 40 wedding couples were in attendance on the launch night and were able to sample a variety of wedding suppliers at the event.  Close up magician Ger Kearney was on hand to charm the guests with tricks like making a bottle of champagne appear out of thin air and making his wallet go up in flames!  Europes #1 high energy band, The Marvels got loved up couples in the mood and onto the dancefloor for the Valentine’s special event.  The showcase evening was so successful for them, they booked 10 weddings on the night.

RED from The Marvels wows the bride and groom (c) Peter Sweeney 2009

WeddingDates.ie is a unique and innovative website that allows engaged couples to select their chosen wedding date and the county in Ireland where they want to get married, and get back an interactive listing of hotels with availability on their preferred wedding date.  They can then filter the results based on guest capacity or price and send an enquiry to the venue to arrange a viewing of the property at a suitable time.

WeddingDates.ie was set up last October by Ciara Crossan, from Kerry Pike and from the beginning the business has been supported by the Cork Enterprise Boards and Enterprise Ireland.  Ciara is currently one of the select group of budding entrepreneurs in the region participating in the Genesis Enterprise Programme, an incubation program for new start ups in the Cork area.

Denise Kennedy, Manager of the Genesis Enterprise Program said of the event; “In the midst of all this economic doom and gloom, Ciara Crossan and her team are a ray of light. Their incredible energy, dynamism and professionalism adds up to the “can do” attitude that always delivers success in starting a new business”

Ciara remarked that she “gained great encouragement during the start up phase by the hotels who signed up to the website very early on.   It really shows that in this economic climate, all businesses need to be smarter about how they target their customers and there is always room for something new and innovative.”

For hoteliers and wedding venues, WeddingDates.ie drives direct enquiries from couples seeking to get married in their venue; that matches  their criteria in terms of availability, price, guest capacity and facilities.  And for couples, it solves the headache involved in phoning around every hotel individually looking for information.  It’s a perfect match!

—- ENDS —

Most brides look to shed a few pounds and want to shape up for their big day, but with the cold weather we have had of late you could easily be forgiven in not wanting to lace up the trainers and head out for a run!

With the Muckross Park Hotel in Killarney’s new Bridal Bootcamp, they claim you can drop a dress size in 3 days and lose up to 10lbs!!  This specially designed package for Brides-to-Be, puts you through an intesive regime of exercise, toning and ’sculpting’ your body along with master classes from top chefs on food and nutrition issues as well as pamper sessions to get you plucked and preened for your walk down the aisle.

It doesn’t come cheap, with the Gold Package coming in at €895.00 but for 4 nights luxury 5 star treatment and a team of experts on hand to give you a complete fitmess, wellness and beauty assessment and the promise to drop a dress size during the program then it would have to be considered good value for the determined bride!

The next Bootcamp Program kicks off on the 22nd March and the 19th April, and will be full of like-minded brides all on a mission!  If you like, you can bring along your friend or bridesmaid for a discounted rate, but it sounds like a great bride-bonding experience and after spending 3 days sweating it out together (in the gym AND the sauna!) I’m sure you will come away with new friends.

Contact the Muckross Park Hotel directly to enquire about the Bridal Bootcamp, or check their availability for a 5 star wedding here.

Last Saturday I was lucky enough to be invited to attend the launch of Fun Casino Ireland, the newest company offering casino tables for your wedding or corporate event.  There were 5 tables in all, 4 Blackjack and 1 Roulette, all of the tables were sponsored by different companies and weddingdates.ie was the sponsor of one of the blackjack tables and was delighted to be involved in supporting other new Cork businesses.

I brought along a few of my friends and we were greeted with complimentary champagne when we arrived, along with a €100 chip each which we could change at the tables.  I was dying to get going to see if I could win anything!  There was no money exchanged, the concept was at the end of the night the person with the highest value of chips won a prize.  Needless to say, that WASN’T me!  Although I was having moderate luck on one of the Blackjack tables, after an hour or so when it was time to leave, I put all our chips on the roulette table and managed to loose everything in one spin of the wheel!  It was a great nights entertainment and something a little bit different and fun – not your usual Saturday night in Cork!

Fun Casino Ireland is the newest company offering these increasingly popular casino nights and they service the Munster area.  If you are looking for something to entertain your guests during the lull period of the wedding during the in-between times, then hiring some casino table can be a great way to do it.  They provide you with the playing chips and dealers etc and can even coordinate the evening with a magician to get people into the mood for card games and set the atmosphere.