Wedding

Hometown Glory | Modern Love Stories, Chloe & Barry

By Emily,
Wed, Jan 26, 2022

Tags: Modern Love Stories Wedding

Be inspired by stories of love and magic, as we share some of our favourite ways Chupi pieces have helped you celebrate your most special moments.

We loved sharing Chloe and Barry’s beautiful sunset engagement story so are delighted to bring you a look at their incredible wedding in historic Kilkenny city.

On where things started

Barry and I met 12 years ago when we were put in the same peer mentor group in Biomedical Science in UCD, but we didn’t start dating until nearly seven years after that.

Since then, we’ve both become doctors, emigrated, returned home, continued our training and done a lot of travelling in between. My mum likes to take credit for us finally realising what a good match we’d be but one of our bridesmaids Aoife also claims that credit too!

Almost two years ago, Barry proposed to me with a Chupi Promise Me ring at the top of Killiney Hill where we would often go to walk his family dog Missy. Unbeknownst to me, our parents were waiting nearby and we celebrated with champagne while the sunset over Dublin.

I now wear my promise ring on my right hand. The engagement ring I chose is the 1ct morganite rose gold Queen of Hearts on a polished band – it is me in a piece of jewellery, I love it.

On wanting a hometown wedding

We both really wanted a day full of fun and love with our families. We wanted a day close to my family home so that we could focus on each other and our day and not have to commute too far. I grew up in Kilkenny and it was always really important to me to get married there and leave from my parents’ house. Their home is my favourite place in the world and I have so many happy memories there.

We're not religious, but we loved the idea of somewhere with gravitas and history to say our vows. The Medieval Mile was perfect for that and is one of the oldest buildings in the city. It was once the town hall, a Catholic church, a Protestant church, a Masonic hall and a community centre before it became the beautiful museum that it is today. Once we stepped inside we knew it was for us!

On sharing the joy

Barry and I are mad about each other and we wanted to share our love with all our guests. Our entire wedding party walked with us up through the city and on through the Saturday Farmer’s market on The Parade. The cheers and beeping cars of all those we passed were such good fun and really added to the atmosphere. I think for a lot of the people we passed that day it was the first wedding they’d seen in a long time. We were very lucky that this was our first date and we were allowed 100 people.

We travelled from the city centre out to The Newpark Hotel via the tourist train so that the entire wedding party could stay together. We had such a laugh and really enjoyed the craic and the chats with our little crew on our journey through the city.

On many helping hands

My mum and I did the flowers for the ceremony using flowers from her garden. This was special to me, as it was a link to my past and where I grew up. My grannies were our flower girls and they were proud as punch to be there and we were so lucky to have them both in that role.

Barry’s brother Hugh (our best man extraordinaire) set up Zoom on multiple angles so that our guests from overseas could watch the entire ceremony and be included in the day. My brother Ryan played the bridesmaids, my Dad and I up the aisle. Barry hadn’t heard any of Ryan’s rehearsals and he played a blinder. It was so special to have my only sibling play as Dad and I took that momentous walk.

The Newpark Hotel was our local growing up and so many of my cousins worked there through the years. It was a no-brainer for us for our reception and Sinead, the wedding planner there, was a godsend. We chose not to have favours and instead donated the money to LauraLynn, a cause close to both of our hearts.

Our cake was made by a good family friend Molly, who’s only 16! Our wonderful friend Ailsa, who is usually an artist on film sets, made all of our wedding stationery. We have some of it framed now in our home and loved her personalised designs with hidden meanings.

On picking precious Chupi pieces

For our wedding rings, we both chose Chupi pieces. I went for an Edwardian Hawthorn ring in a polished rose gold band and Barry chose the solid gold slim Driftwood band. We both love how unique our pieces are and their connections to Dublin.

We chose our wedding rings virtually due to lockdowns and all the girls were so helpful. We were sad that we couldn’t visit the store in person but this really was the next best thing, they had an abundance of patience for our myriad of questions!

On special ways to remember loved ones

One highlight of the day for us both was the confetti made by my mum and showered over us by our guests. It was collected from a cherry blossom in my parents’ garden that was planted by my grandad not long before he died 20 years ago.

It blooms every year on his anniversary so my Mum dried the cherry blossoms from 2020 and 2021 and kept them. She made confetti out of them and our guests showered us in it after our ceremony. It was the most magical, happy moment of either of our lives thus far and it was all the more special that we could remember him this way too.

I also bought lockets with photos of Barry’s Aunty Margaret, my cousin Ethan and my Grandad Dermot who have all passed away and placed these on my bouquet. It was lovely to have them all with me and to remember them throughout the day.

I also had a bluebird necklace from my Aunty Bronagh on my bouquet as my 'something blue' and I wear this necklace a lot now, it's a great reminder of the day.

On finding the dreamiest dress

My wedding dress was such an important part of our day to me. I bought it in Folkster and loved it more and more every dress fitting and time that I tried it on. My Mum and I went wedding dress shopping and we both knew the minute I put it on that it was the one.

On a wedding tip worth remembering

Our advice would be not to lose focus on the bits that are really important to you as a couple. For us, we love a good boogie and great food, so we wanted to focus on these. We wanted it to be a laid back, fun day with plenty of food and music and for our guests to remember the craic and relax.

We had the Swing Cats as our wedding band and the floor was full for the entire night. We also wanted the day to be fun and as stress-free as possible so we enlisted lots of help from family and friends in the days and weeks leading up to it so that we could fully enjoy the day.