WeddingDates.ie

One of my very dear friends recently travelled to Portugal for the wedding of her manager.  It was an unusual wedding in that, the newlywed couple are both American, but the bride has lived and worked in Ireland for the past number of years but is now planning to relocate back to America after the wedding.  Everybody had to travel to the wedding, from Ireland and the US and there was 37 of them together for a full week.

One of the most touching parts of the whole ceremony was that the bride made personalised wedding favours for all of the guests.  Not any normal wedding favour, each guest had a Corona bottle waiting for them when they sat down for dinner, inside of which was a scroll with a personalised letter written to each and every one of them.  I read my friends letter, and it brought a tear to my eye - not only was this a gorgeous gesture for all of the guests, for the Irish in the crowd, it was a goodbye note too.

I am always hammering on about making your day special and that its the unusual little touches that will stand out in peoples memory.  I am sure that anyone who attended that wedding will cherish that letter forever.

Maybe not practical for a large Irish extravaganza but for a smaller, more intimate wedding I think it would be a beautiful thing to do.  The bride typed up each letter on sandy coloured paper (for a homemade alternative, you could dye white paper with a wet teabag) and burned around the edges so it had an old-map effect.  She then rolled up each scroll and placed inside the Corona bottle which had a sand & shells in the bottom of the bottle to weight it.

While not strictly a wedding-event, when I got the brochure from the Celtic Ross Hotel about their Girlie weekend package in aid of Action Breast Cancer, I thought it would be a great bonding weekend for a bride and her bridesmaids, or mother-of-the-bride/groom, or indeed a chilled low key hen event.

It’s on the weekend of the 9th –11th October down in Rosscarbery, West Cork.  For €175 per person, there is a full weekend of activities all based in and around the hotel, sounds like a nice break-away-from-it all for the girls!  It includes 2 nights Bed and breakfast in the hotel and dinner on the Saturday night.  There are a host of activities on Saturday afternoon AND  you get a Back, Neck and Shoulder Massage in the Holistic Suite….now that’s what I call value for a weekend break away!

The weekend will begin on the Fridaynight with a pink bubbly reception followed by some salsa and dirty dancing with Debbie from Salsa Train www.salsatrain.com!

On Saturday enjoy a leisurely breakfast until 11am, then take part in any or all of the activities below:

• Aqua Aerobics - a stint in the pool is always a nice way to start your day!
• Bootcamp - the new craze hitting the country. Join Mark from www.rebelbootcamp.ie for an outdoor workout. Includes a talk on nutrition.  Perfect for the bride-to-be wanting to shape up.
• Afternoon tea - with pink cupcakes of course!
• Make-up consultation with Colette O’Sullivan from Porcelain Make-up www.porcelain.ie - get all the tips you need.
• Cork Style Confidential – presented by Maeve and Molly will showcase all things stylish and sophisticated in the fashion industry www.maeveandmolly.com
• An Irish Cancer Society Health Promotion Advisor will give a talk on breast cancer awareness and general cancer awareness for women.

Chick flicks will be shown throughout the day in the Library Bar for those that just want to chill out for the weekend.

On Saturday night enjoy a pre-dinner drinks reception before a sumptuous 4-course meal. We will end the night dancing away to Karaoke and DJ.  On departure all guests will receive a Goodie Bag!

I think this is a great innovative package put together by the hotel and a really lovely idea for a chilled weekend to relax with friends.  Best of all - Action Breast Cancer will benefit from the proceeds of the weekend, so everyone wins!

You can download the full brochure here and to book, contact the hotel directly: by calling (023) 8848722 or emailing reservations@celticross.com.

This weekend is the annual Cork Women’s Mini Marathon and the weddingdates.ie team are getting involved by entering the race gowned up and ready to go!  We are running for Cork ARC Cancer Support House, a very worthy cause.  A few of us did the marathon last year in Wedding Dresses and it was great fun and the atmosphere was electric on the day!  The weather is suppossed to be sunny on Sunday too, so why not join us for what is guaranteed to be a fun day out!  Meet at Centre Park Road at 12:45pm.  We’ll be easily spotted!

If you are interested in running with us, let us know over on the Facebook Event Page and we will get you registered on Sunday morning with a number etc.

Photo Credit: Peter Sweeney

We are delighted to have the entire Cusack Hotel Group on board weddingdates.ie this month and to kick off their series of videos we have the first one from the 3* Newgrange Hotel which is in Navan town, Co. Meath.

With average prices of €32.00 per head, why not can check availability here for this Wedding Venue in Meath?

This Sunday sees a Wedding Fair in one of our favourite funky venues in Co. Meath - Marriott Ashbourne Hotel.  The Hotel will welcome couples from 1-5pm on Sunday 27th September 2009.  Admission is free for the exhibition, which will include a host of local wedding suppliers and services, presentations and tips for that very special Wedding Day.

The Marriott wedding co-ordinators will be on hand for information, discussion and show round. Introducing the fair are guest speakers from Fitness to Stationery giving the latest tips and professional advice throughout day.  The Bridal Show commences at 3.30pm for the bride-to-be, coinciding with a casino corner especially for the groom.

You’ll also get to sample some of the delicious wedding beverages and canapés created by the team at The Marriott Ashbourne Hotel.

To promote the fair, the girls in the hotel have asked me to be involved, so I’ll be swishing around The Pavillion Shopping Centre in Swords tomorrow and Friday in the wedding dress - so if you are around, do come up and say hello!  I’m sure I’ll be getting a few strange looks from the shoppers!!

>> Make sure you check availability for your perfect wedding venue in Meath here!

A quick post to congratulate the Claregalway Hotel on its win at the 21st Hotel & Catering Review Gold Medal Awards last night in Dublin.  They won outright in their category for Best Three Star Hotel.  All credit goes to Owner/Managers Paul and Nora Gill and the superior team in the Claregalway Hotel who are highly efficient and customer-focused.  I have stayed in the hotel myself and had a great experience.  Definitly one of the best qualities of the place is the staff and their attention to the customer.

With a fantastic reputation for quality and service, why not consider the Claregalway Hotel for your Wedding in Galway?  And naturally, you can check availability here

You all know that I love the quirky, unusual and FUN stuff over on this blog, and when it comes to a wedding car, I don’t think it gets more quirky than THIS!! The guys at www.vintagebridalcars.ie do a lovely range of vintage wedding cars, but they also have the uber-cool General Lee (from the Dukes of Hazzard!) on their books!  For €800.00 you can arrive to your wedding á la Luke and Bo Duke in the shiny orange Dodge 69 Charger.

Just hope that your drive to the wedding venue doesn’t end up something like this:

We are always trying to improve things here at WeddingDates.ie to make sure that you guys are finding the information you need and are satisfied with your experience using the site.  We are doing a bit of research at the moment with our users to find out more about how they interact with the site and what they would like to see in the future.

Would you be interested in giving us your feedback and taking part in a user focus group to help us make the site even better?

If you are: we’ll give you 50 euro cash for your time and valuable feedback.  Please note: you will need to be available on the evening of Wednesday, 30th Sept and willing to travel to Bishopstown, Cork. The discussion / focus group will take approximately one hour and refreshments will be served on the evening. Yum yum!

If you are interested in coming along to our focus group evening, please take 2 minutesto fill out this brief survey so we can collect your all important details and contact information.  And in the meantime, enjoy this 90’s classic!

Last night on RTE’s new show Higher Ground, you might have seen Jill FitzGerald and her Cake Topper Business.  Jill handmakes personalised cake toppers for wedding and occasion cakes.  They can be as quirky or traditional as you choose…the limit is your imagination!  Is your groom a big GAA-head or Rugby buff?  Maybe you play classical violin or are a doctor?  Jill can create characters that represent the happy couple and ad a fun element to the wedding cake.

“Using photographs of the happy couple, and including quirky details for that added touch of humour, these caricatures of the bride and groom can incorporate uniforms, hobbies, sports, county colours, or be more traditional in their wedding attire. Pets, children and other additions can of course be included too - the choice is yours!”

The pieces are modelled by hand using coloured polymer clays (Fimo), so your topper not only features on your wedding cake, but also acts as a permanent keepsake of your wedding day.  Beware though - you can’t eat them!

Jill also suggests giving the toppers as an unusual and personal wedding gift.  Just make sure to order in time (at least 6 weeks before the wedding date).  A handmade personalised cake topper from Jill will set you back about €120.00.  Get some inspirational ideas on the website: www.caketoppersireland.com

Whenever anyone talks about Wedding Insurance, you get the inevitable giggles about the wedding being covered if you get jilted at the alter; however in these tough financial times, wedding insurance is nothing to be sniggered at.  We hear stories every day about companies going out of business, or hotels closing down - for what is probably going to be the most expensive single day of your life you’d be mad not to protect yourself in case the worst happens.

Photo Credit: Peter Sweeney

Wedding Insurance can give you precious peace of mind in the stressful time leading leading up to your big day.  At least with Wedding Insurance you won’t have to worry if your dress shop goes out of business, your reception or wedding venue is double booked or even if you have to cancel or postpone due to illness or accident.  WeddingInsurance.ie provides 4 types of cover, starting from €49.99 for the 2 star, which covers up to €5,000 for cancellation & rearrangement and up to €2,000 for the brides dress.  The 5 star cover starts at €149.00 and covers up to €40,000 for cancellation , up to €7,000 for photography and video, and up to €15,000 for Rings, Flowers and Wedding Cake.

Its something certainly worth considering…why not check out the packages available and what they cover and choose one to suit you.  In the overall expenditure of your wedding, the premiums are very low and for the peace of mind Wedding Insurance would give you in my eyes its definitely highly recommended.

Check out Wedding Insurance Packages here.