A Fairytale Dress, a Violin Cadenza and a Villa by the Ocean

I'm not one of those girls who'd spent years imagining her wedding day. But when Dara and I decided to get married, I knew it was going to be special. We're both quite particular, detail-focused people, and we knew that meant a lot of work to put it together properly. As soon as we'd completed our move to Spain, finding a beachside venue for our wedding became our first task. It wasn't all easy and the months between finding the venue and the wedding itself felt quite rushed but fortunately we live in Spain where no-one laughs at you for organising something of this scale only six months in advance. In fact, the whole planning process was relatively smooth.

The one massive panic was when my first dress option fell through and I had to find another one just a month before the wedding. Dara and I went on a mission together to find The Dress and I was so glad that things worked out the way they did because it was truly my dream dress and I felt like a Disney princess in it.

We rented an old Spanish villa in Torre Del Mar for the weekend. Our families arrived first and stayed with us for the night before the wedding, which was nice as it felt like the wedding was already in motion before the day itself had begun. On the morning of the wedding Dara and I got up and went for a run together and then went through our song for the dance before the hair and makeup artist arrived for my mum and me.

I'd spent months getting into peak physical health before the wedding - this is a blog post in itself - but, being very goal-oriented, it was motivating to have an event like this to work towards. I felt like I really succeeded in looking after myself to the point that I felt great about my body and skin on the wedding day.

On the morning itself my mum and I had our hair and makeup done together. She'd never had this done professionally before, and getting ready with her and seeing her look so glamorous was one of my favourite parts of the day.

However by the time I got my dress on I was starting to freak out a bit, just with the overwhelm of it all. The photographers wanted the classic "getting ready" shots, and I was too wound up to enjoy any of it. This was probably the low point of the day for me but Dara had come up to see me and helped me calm down a bit. (Needless to say, we didn't really subscribe to most of the conventions and superstitions of the day!)

Meanwhile, while I was upstairs stewing, our guests were arriving for welcome drinks and beginning to get seated for the ceremony. We had a flamenco guitarist playing during this hour but obviously I didn't get to experience any of that part! You can almost see me through the window at the top of the house in this photo and I was little jealous that I was by myself and didn't get to hang out with anyone before the ceremony. But obviously it's worth it for the whole drama of the entrance.

My dad came to join me because he was walking me down the aisle. We left from the villa to get to where the ceremony was held, which was a huge path through the garden. Our "entrance" was about halfway down this path. I chose The Lark Ascending for the entrance music and to be honest I wasn't really sure how that was going to go - I was worried it might sound a bit empty because it begins with this huge solo violin cadenza but it was PERFECT.

The Lark Ascending is one of my favourite pieces and probably the piece I've played on violin that I've most connected with - it's so special to me. So to hear this on the speaker as we began to walk up to the aisle was the most beautiful thing ever. The solo violin was just soaring through the sunshine with the backdrop of the ocean and knowing all these people we love were there seated was just the best feeling. Mish, Garry and Jason were standing at the back and as Jeff and I went up the steps, they wolf whistled and went, "who's that hottie" which made me laugh and just added to the relaxed mood. Walking up that aisle was one of the happiest moments of my life.

As well as walking me down the aisle, my dad also did the ceremony. He used to be a priest and has done many weddings before so he was an old hand at this! He had schooled Dara and I on the gravitas of the occasion so we were expecting it to be quite a serious thing - however he opened with lots of jokes and stuff to get everyone involved. He did a really great job and I was so proud of him. My brother Nick and Dara's sister Karen did the readings, which were Corinthians 13 and an excerpt from Captain Corelli's Mandolin - two classics. We chose traditional wedding vows.

Our exit music was I Get the Sweetest Feeling by Jackie Wilson but Dara and I were almost at the end before the DJ got the song playing and we turned to each other and were just like, "you had one job!" - it was quite a funny moment which was a relief because that's sometimes the kind of thing that I can throw a massive tantrum over.

After the ceremony we did a few posed photographs with family against the arch. Here's one with me and "the boys" (as my mum calls them).

After the ceremony was cocktail hour where Dara and I chose "his and hers" cocktails of margaritas and espresso martinis (and their non-alcoholic versions of course). I regretted my choice of the espresso martini as it was so hot they needed ice cubes in them! It was so great to finally hang out with all my friends who had come. Most people had travelled from either the UK or Ireland. My uncle Gerry and cousin Heleyni had come all the way from New Zealand, my cousin Luke and his family from Toronto, my cousin James and partner Lucy from the Orkney Islands, and my dear friend Jason from the USA and it really made the difference that these people had made the effort to travel so far. Their being there just added a huge sense of occasion to the whole day.

One of my pet projects for the wedding was a photobooth. I'd looked into lots of photobooth options as I'd always enjoyed them at other people's parties, but hadn't found anything I liked. Instead I decided to do a DIY version with a retro looking video camera for people to leave videos for us, and a Polaroid 600 camera with black and white film for people to take home large square polaroid photos as wedding favours. Unfortunately it wasn't the success I had hoped. Being otherwise occupied, I hadn't been able to organise the table as I'd wanted to and I don't think people really knew it was there, but fortunately my brother Aaron went round and took a lot of polaroids for people.

After cocktail hour was dinner and the speeches. Dara's dad did a speech, then my mum shared embarrassing things about me like my love of The Princess Diaries and how I maliciously bit my brother when I was a child. Then Dara and I did a speech each. The speeches were a highlight for me because it gave me a chance to prepare some things I wanted to say about Dara, which was what the occasion was all about after all. Dara shared some things about me including how I still sometimes fall asleep laughing at the rubber conductor meme (still the best thing on the internet).

Dara is an excellent public speaker and I was glad he was last so I didn't have to follow him!

The table setting had been something Dara and I had been very particular about and it was completely worth it - everything about the dinner was so magical and it felt like a fairytale banquet.

After the dinner we cut the cake which was kind of a weird moment - it's one of those wedding rituals that happens because it's expected but feels like it doesn't really have any substance to it. There were lots of wedding rituals that I had been like "fuck that" about, like tossing the bouquet (mostly because I can't throw, if I'm completely honest) and in retrospect cutting the cake would have been one of them.

The first dance was the thing that I was the most anxious about. It's funny because the song for this was the first detail of our wedding we had decided on long before the venue was booked. We danced to Fortress by Queens of the Stone Age. I've played at lots of weddings and always thought my first dance would be different to most people's - more polished and choreographed - but as the wedding day drew closer it was apparent that this was not on either of our lists of priorities - and that we were ok with this. I wanted to wear my dress all night (not going for a second look) as it was so gorgeous and probably my only chance ever to wear it - but the train meant it wasn't easy to dance in, so the movements were quite limited - and it was only as the day approached that I realised even when I cut the song down to 2 minutes, that's a long time to awkwardly sway on a bridge with a bunch of people surrounding you! We managed a couple of turns and tried to relax and enjoy it but I have to admit I was quite glad when it was over.

Once the first dance was done we finally got a chance to relax! There was a large indoor space that the catering company had recently added to the venue and on their recommendation the music and the bar was moved indoors after 10. We had a flamenco band playing, a DJ set, and the bar, and in some ways it was a shame that all this was indoors as it was so lovely outside where you could just soak up the vibe and chat. It was still a great time though and there was lots of dancing and silliness and people wandered freely between the indoor and outdoor spaces.

We had late-night snacks of vegan hotdogs and churros. I made sure I got some of everything - the cava, ALL the snacks, and the cake. There was a lot of cake left over and over the two days after the wedding I ate about 10 cupcakes and a quarter of the actual cake, which I think is a pretty heroic effort.

We kept the villa for another night and chilled out with some of our friends who stayed. It was such a fun, relaxing end to the weekend and I was so glad we finished it that way. I'm still laughing pretty much hourly at some of the jokes that were had, including Jim earning the nickname of Mr Sangria (immortalised in this drawing by Daisy:)

Drawing by Daisy Hull

Back when I was younger and way more jaded I thought weddings were a huge waste of time and money. My outlook on this couldn't be more different now. Having a wedding was probably one of the biggest things I'll ever do and the result was priceless. To have so many people that we loved in the same place together just to celebrate Dara and me as a couple was amazing. Our families finally met each other and having my uncle and cousins there was a welcome reunion. It was great to finally meet some of Dara's friends and colleagues and the entire group mixed so well together - I like to think it's a testament to how cool we are that we know so many great people. I've realised a wedding is one of the greatest things you can ever do because you will have that amazing memory for the rest of your life. Which, as it turns out, is kind of the whole point.