In Week 4 of our wedding series, we asked Mary Foyle of Travel Counsellors Ireland to give us the benefits of her extensive knowledge and experience gained from years of helping couples organise the perfect honeymoon.

Your honeymoon should be the most magical holiday of your life, giving you time to unwind and enjoy each other’s company after all the excitement of your wedding day.

And just as your choice of venue for your wedding day reflects your own personalities, you will want a honeymoon destination that suits you both. Remember, there is no obligation to lie on a beach for two weeks. Nor is there an obligation to travel to some far off exotic island. There are plenty of beautiful honeymoon spots in Europe which offer luxury, interesting sights and beautiful beaches.

‘Sun, sea and sand’

Walking hand in hand through the surf on a white sandy beach is surely the definitive honeymoon scene. Just be sure, especially if you are the active types, that you really want to be lazing round for all that time. You might consider combining the tropical beach with some sightseeing or adventure activity. Popular honeymoon combinations right now are Mauritius followed by Safari in South Africa, the Caribbean followed by New York/Las Vegas, or what about the Great Barrier Reef, followed by Sydney and Ayers Rock?

‘To see the sights’

Perhaps you can think of nothing more romantic than sitting together in a café in St. Marks Square in Venice or wandering through the ancient temples of Luxor. Remember to leave plenty of time to wind down and relax after the wedding as a sightseeing holiday can be quite strenuous and you will be exhausted after the all the hype of the big day.

There are some great beaches in Italy on the Tuscany and Amalfi Coasts, or if you are travelling to Egypt, why not pay a visit to the Red Sea and chill out in a luxury hotel on the beach for a few days before heading to the temples?

‘A taste of adventure’

Perhaps you have both always wanted to do something a little bit different and adventurous. Whether it is an African safari, white-water rafting, snorkelling, diving or trekking, make sure you both have the same idea of what you are letting yourselves in for. Your honeymoon is not the time to try something unusual which you may not like!

Adventure options include walking the Inca Trail in Peru, diving the Great Barrier Reef, Bungee Jumping in New Zealand, or hot-air ballooning over the Masai Mara.

‘A quiet relaxing time together’

If all you want is time together and the stress of long haul flights is not your scene, then a beautiful hotel in the Tuscan Hills or a small villa with private pool in Portugal might do the trick.

Top tips for organising your honeymoon

1. Decide first of all which type of holiday you’d both like – see above for suggestions – then compile your ‘honeymoon wish-list’ which will help narrow down the options.

2. Decide on an approximate budget. Remember there is a honeymoon out there to suit every type and every budget.

3. Always check what the weather will be like in the destination you are travelling to e.g. December is not the time to travel to the Mediterranean, it will not be beach weather in Cape Town in June and it will be the skiing season in New Zealand in August.

4. Allow 2-3 days after the wedding before heading off on honeymoon.  This will give you time to relax and enjoy any post wedding gatherings.

5. Ask for advice! A good travel agent will be experienced in organising special holidays and honeymoons and will have valuable advice and tips on what to do and what to avoid.

Mary Foyle is a Travel Counsellor who specialises in honeymoons and holidays for special occasions. For full contact details click here, and for the Travel Counsellors Ireland website click here.

This week we asked Emily Doran of Emily Doran Photography in Cork to give us her top tips on preparing for your wedding photographs. Of course a good photographer helps, so over to the expert!
Prepare to be amazed

I think preparation is key for each wedding day. I always try to visit the ceremony and reception venues, and especially the bridal party photo shoot location beforehand. That way I can really get the most out of a location and don’t waste any time on the day. Your photographer should be happy be to do this – if not, how well prepared will they be.

Expect rain!

Always have a PLAN B for photos if its raining. Nobody wants rain on their wedding day but c’mon, we live in Ireland, it rains between 150-225 days of the year! It’s not the end of the world if the weather’s bad either. I think rain can be very romantic… a couple kissing under an umbrella in the rain, how cute is that? So, don’t forget to pick out a few nice umbrellas, just in case. Also, reception venues often have great areas for interior shots.

Practice makes perfect

Are you are a bit freaked out about having to pose for photos and feel like you’re not going to enjoy it? A lot of photographers offer a pre-wedding shoot. It’s like a practice run for the wedding day. When possible, I meet up with the bride and groom at the wedding shoot location for an informal photo session. It gives the bride and groom a great idea of what to expect, try out a few poses, and you’ll be more relaxed on the big day.

Delegate

Family photos can be difficult to organise. I think it’s best to take these shots just after the ceremony, before Aunty Sheila disappears off to the pub and gets a bit leery. Make a list of the family shots you’d like taken. Give a copy to the photographer and also to groomsmen/bridesmaids or friends who can help round everyone up and have them ready to step into the picture while you’re busy shaking hands with the congregation as they leave the church/ceremony location.

Ready, steady…

Getting ready to go to the ceremony. If the photographer is calling to take shots of the preparations, have a quick look around. If there’s a pile of washing in the corner of the dressing room it could spoil a great photo, just shove it under the bed or in the closet! There’s no need to go crazy tiding though. Mess is good, once its wedding mess! Dresses and shoes can come in beautiful packaging, there’s no need to hide these away.

Old, new, borrowed, blue

It’s great to get shots of little details. The shoes, rings, flowers, cufflinks. If there’s something special like a card or gift from the groom, the best man’s notes for his speech, even a romantic text message, leave these out for the photographer so they can arrange and photograph them.

Don’t worry, be happy

Finally, but most importantly, don’t worry! Loads of brides tell me they hate having their photo taken or are worried about double chins, wobbly bits or just don’t like the way they look in photographs. What can you do to make your photos look good? The answer – don’t worry, be happy! Its the photographers job to get great shots. Just enjoy yourself, have fun, don’t take it too seriously. Hold on tightly to the one you love, kiss, giggle, dance, sing, whatever. Then, when you’re looking back at your wedding photos in years to come, you wont see those wobbly bits you worried about, you’ll just remember what a great time you had on one of the happiest days of your life.

A graduate of Limerick College of Art and Design and the New York Institute of Photography, Emily Doran now runs her own photography business in Cork, specialising in weddings.

Our house white has been lapping up the limelight once again, this time from the Irish Examiner’s Blake Creedon and Frank O’Brien of Robert Francis Wine. Cuvee Jean-Paul (click here to view) is one of the very the best wines available in Ireland at €8 – we, and our customers have known this for quite a while – but now the critics have woken up to our best kept secret and it’s time for everyone else to sit up and take notice.

Cuvee Jean-Paul is a rather unfashionable blend of Ugni Blanc and Colombard, but if you like the zippy fruit characteristics of a Sauvignon Blanc, you’re going to love this.

Blake Creedon (Irish Examiner): “…a fresh and fruity white – one of the best value at the moment being the grapefruity mouth watering Cuvee Jean-Paul Sec Cotes de Gascogne.” (July 2009)

“I’m only too glad to do my bit to rehabilitate the reputation of this lovely blend… Tangy grapefruit on the nose sets the scene for this lovely colombard and ugni blanc blend. My best white of the tasting.” (May 2009)

Frank O’Brien (Robert Francis Wine): “On the palate the Cuvee Jean-Paul has good balance, a lovely freshness and good acidity. For me, flavours of melon predominantly come through, which follows through to a nice finish. The crisp, freshness of this wine make this the perfect summer sipper either on its own or with lighter salads, seafood or chicken dishes. I defy anyone not to like this wine. 87+ points.” (July 2009) Click here to see the full review.

The brother of the white is a luscious Syrah/Grenache blend. Together they have been our most popular wines for weddings this year.

Cuvee Jean-Paul is part of our 10% off all French wine for July & August. That’s 12 bottles for €86.40 (any mix) delivered to your home or office, anywhere in Ireland. Yes indeed, hard to knock.

Our first guest contributor to our Wedding series is Paula Cogan of Cork’s River Lee Hotel. Here Paula gives some excellent (and very impartial!) tips on picking your perfect wedding venue.

Weddings, particularly in Ireland have taken on a life of their own in the past 10 years. The days of sherry receptions and sandwiches and cocktail sausages have been replaced with champagne and strawberry receptions and chocolate fountains.

While it goes without saying that a wedding day is certainly one of the most important days of your life, there are definitely some practical tips which will allow you to plan effectively and not break the bank while doing so.

One great piece of advice that I was given prior to my own wedding was to consider who would you be willing to pay €60 a head for dinner for and then plan your wedding guest list accordingly.

When choosing a venue, again it is important to view as many venues as possible that meet your general criteria.  Consider what you and your groom have in mind.  Are you looking for a country retreat, Urban location or something with a twist? Compile a check list as to what will be key for your particular wedding e.g. outside space for photographs, plenty of bedrooms for the wedding guests or a ballroom with natural daylight.

The web has opened up so many avenues for research to the bride to be.  Check out each venue and their website.  You can download menus, packages and also check out blogs where you will get feedback from other brides as to venues that have worked for them.

You will then have a good idea of costs and the specific packages that the hotel can offer prior to meeting with the on-site wedding coordinator. In the majority of hotels, it is also worth meeting with the Chef and the Events Manager to ensure that everyone understands your vision for the day.  It is important that you feel comfortable with the staff in the hotel, as you will be liaising with them on a regular basis for a number of months.

Every hotel will be delighted to sit with you and provide a free consultation and answer any of your enquiries.  They will also be delighted to assist with recommendations for entertainment, decorations and many other items, as they will deal with suppliers on a daily basis. If you ring in advance to make an appointment, make sure to ask when the hotel is hosting a wedding and pop in to see the room and make sure that you are happy with how it looks.

Of course negotiate on price.  If you are not a good negotiator bring a mum or dad to do the negotiating for you.  Many hotels will offer substantial discounts for mid week weddings, or Autumn and Winter dates. Ask for a written quotation, as well as all terms and conditions before signing a contract.

At River Lee Hotel, we specialise in the smaller size wedding, and provide a bespoke wedding day, not as much of a cookie cutter wedding, that the larger traditional wedding hotels can provide. Some of the most special weddings that I have been privileged to have helped organise over the years, have been for smaller numbers, 50 to 60 people. The wedding couples were able to spend a little more on a superb menu, nice wines and were able to really get to chat with all of their guests and enjoy the day.

Paula Cogan is Director of Sales and Marketing at Cork’s River Lee Hotel and has enjoyed assisting wedding couples with their plans for over 14 years.

With over 80% of all couples now choosing to bring their own wines to their venue, choosing the perfect wedding wine has become a little bit more complicated than simply taking the hotel ‘house’ red and white.

For those big into their wine this process is undoubtedly one of the more pleasurable aspects of planning the big day; for others it can be an unnerving experience, bamboozled by flowery descriptions, confusing price promotion, and the sheer choice of wines available in the Irish market. For all couples, there’s the desire to please everyone with their choice, and the ever-more important matter of managing a budget.

We’ve put together our top tips for picking your wedding wine, aimed at making the process simpler, less stressful, and hopefully a bit more fun.

1. HOW MUCH WINE?

First things first, how much to buy. The general rule-of-thumb is around half a bottle per guest – equivalent to 2-3 glasses on average, bearing in mind some of your guests won’t drink any wine at all – so if you’re planning on 150 guests, you’re looking at around 75 bottles. In terms of a red/white split, this can depend a little on the season but somewhere between 50-60% white, and 40-50% red is about right.

Any service-oriented wine merchant will provide a consume-or-return option – i.e. whatever you don’t use you can bring back for a full refund – so, if you’re worried about running out of one or both, you can always buy a little more to be on the safe side, knowing you can return whatever you don’t need. (And yes, of course we do!)

2. HOW MUCH TO SPEND?

There’s two real issues here: (i) what do we have to spend to get something half-decent, and (ii) what’s our overall budget?

We’ve spoken before on the implications of the high fixed duty rate on wine in Ireland, meaning that a €6 bottle of wine is almost 60% tax, whereas at €10, it’s a little over 40%. An extra €4 buys a lot ‘more’ wine in other words. The counter to that is that you’re buying a lot of wine in quantity terms. If your wine budget is €500 and you’ve the above example of 150 guests, you’re looking at €500 divided by 75 bottles. So, you either try to get the best wine you can at €6.67, or you allow a little bit more on your budget.

Generally speaking, €8 to €12 should get you a very acceptable quality of wine. Below that, the proportion of tax means there’s relatively little investment in the actual wine – of course on a sliding scale. On the flip-side, spending more than €12 comes down to how generous/indulgent/flash you want to be – will 150 people fully appreciate the extra expense of the Grand Cru Chablis that you and your partner indulge in at the weekends?

3. RECEPTION AND TOAST DRINKS?

The reception drink is now almost customary, celebrating the official ceremony and welcoming guests to the reception venue. Similarly, the official ‘toast’, often at the end of the speeches, will require another course of drinks to be considered.

For the reception drink, most hotels offer punch, cocktails or sparkling wine, so the option to bring your own bubbly will often be open to you as well. Weigh up the cost of the hotel providing this, versus bringing your own and paying additional corkage, and you can see fairly quickly which represents better value. For the toast, hotels can provide a bar service where orders are taken from guests during the meal. This is a nice touch, but you’ve got to weigh up the average cost of a pint of Guinness/gin and tonic/double brandy, versus the other option of more wine or bubbly.

Often, bringing your own sparkling wine can be much more cost effective, as you can get 8-9 glasses out of a bottle thanks to the smaller size of a standard Champagne ‘flute’. A toast for 150 people could be covered by 20 bottles therefore, although you may want to allow more the reception drinks, as people are more likely to ask for top-ups!

4. WHAT TO BUY.

Whether you’re a seasoned wine drinker or a tee-totaller, the type of wine you choose for your wedding can still be a tricky one. You’re catering for different ages, genders, tastes and wine-drinking experience – how do you pick wines that please everybody?

The first and best piece of advice is “you can’t”. What you can do however is pick wines that appeal to the majority – so-called ‘crowd-pleasers’. Stick with safe, dare we suggest middle-of-the-road, styles. Soft, fruit-driven styles dominate the core wine-drinking market, so no matter how much you love the earthy, barnyard flavours of Burgundy Pinot or the sweet muskiness of Alsace Riesling, you’re probably not going to appeal to the majority of your guests with those choices.

Get advice from your local wine merchant on some suggestions, then organise a tasting party to get a consensus – family, friends and/or the bridal party are good places to start. It’ll give you an idea of which wines appeal to the majority and it’s a good excuse for a fun get-together ahead of the big day.

5. WHERE TO BUY!

Despite the high duty rates and the proximity of France and, in particular, Northern Ireland, there are some compelling reasons to buy your wine in Ireland.

Firstly, there’s the accessibility, advice and recommendations of a good wine merchant. Judge them on their recommendations then decide are they good value versus, for example, the local supermarket (and we won’t get into that again!).

Secondly, back to point 1 on how much wine to buy, check before you buy and you should be able to return any unopened wine after the wedding, ensuring you don’t run out of red because everyone decided to have the beef main course.

Thirdly, many wine merchants will offer delivery to your venue as part of the service. This saves you having to organise collection and delivery in the last few days up to the wedding. (Yes, we do that too, and for free.)

Finally, there is further value in convenience when it comes to buying the wine. In comparing the cost of going to France or even Newry, factor in your time, the cost of transport, any meals or accommodation, and the risk of picking up 100 bottles of Chateauneuf du Vinegar if you don’t get a chance to sample what you’re purchasing.

NEED ANY MORE HELP?

All the pointers above are from our own experience, supplying couples all over Ireland with the perfect wines for their wedding day. We’re delighted to take enquiries and provide advice over the phone, or in person six days a week in our Bandon warehouse. For further details click here and for full contact details click here.

You might think that it’s more monsoon season than wedding season at the moment, but right now all over Ireland thousands of couples are frantically making those last minute preparations ahead of their big day (possibly including sourcing bridal party umbrellas).

Well we’ve our own wedding season at Curious Wines, kicking off next week with the very pertinent Top 5 Tips For Your Wedding Wine. Ahead of that, we’re conducting a short survey into the customs and preferences of happy couples when it comes to picking their wedding elixir. You know, do you pick a better wine for the top table than for the guests, or how much wine does it take the Groom’s mother to start telling the Bride what she really thinks of her?

We’ve eight short questions that shouldn’t take more than two minutes to complete, and we’re putting a case of wine worth €100 up for grabs for one lucky respondent. To be in to win, simply click the link below and fill out the survey.

Click Here to take survey (link expired)

(Unfortunately the case of wine is only available to residents in the Republic of Ireland but if you want to fill out the survey anyway we’d be really grateful!)

One of the jewels in our range, Santa Alicia has become a firm favourite with our loyal customers since we opened our doors in November of last year. And believe me, we couldn’t hide our excitement after learning we’d be stocking wine from Chilean Winery of the Year for 2007, as awarded by the International Wine and Spirit Competition. The first trophy was awarded for the Gran Reserva Merlot 2003 – named as best Chilean wine of the competition.

Santa Alicia vineyards are located in the Pirque region in the heart of Maipo Valley, where some of the best ‘terroir’ for Chilean wines is found. These vineyards are irrigated by a very small amount of pure, crystal water coming from the melting snow of the Andes Mountains, which helps in achieving a high concentration of fruit. Winemaker, David Gonzalez, has been at the winery since 1997. David’s philosophy of winemaking is not only based on good vine stock, but also on the knowledge given by enology.

Two years later, Santa Alicia continues to churn out an astonishingly superior range at low cost, allowing us to price very keenly. The wines have continued to gain notoriety, the Reserva Merlot picking up a Gold Medal at the Ottawa Wine and Food Show in Canada, and the Reserva Chardonnay (pictured) landing Gold at Vinales do’r Paris and Mundus Vini in Germany. Both were labelled ‘Best Buy’ by Wine Enthusiast.

It’s no surprise that these two keep ending up as wine of choice at weddings across the country since we introduced them to Ireland. The Santa Alicia fan base is young, but it’s growing… and growing fast.

Friday 13th wasn’t so unlucky for WeddingDates.ie and her loyal following at the meticulously planned launch night in Cork city. A wedding theme as you might expect, but I’m not sure anyone expected the bride and groom to turn up in a Bentley!

The perfect venue was the Cork Vision Centre on North Main Street, found and organised by Ireland’s money saving venue finder FindaConferenceVenue.com. And it took a big crowd (over 200 people) to fill the vast openness. Included were over 40 wedding couples and wedding suppliers, including a magical magician, a red hot band and (ahem, excuse my bias) Ireland’s best wedding wine specialists, who were supplying the curiously scrumptious vino.

The Champagne reception and pink and blue wedding cupcakes were a great touch, but the real star of the show was one of Cork’s brightest young entrepreneurs. Ciara Crossan, founder of WeddingDates.ie, enthused with her energy and all-round loveliness. And I’m told it was 7am before she hit the hay. Go Ciara!

Ciara has succeeded is making WeddingDates.ie the one-stop-shop for engaged couples who are venue hunting for their big day. Simply choose your wedding date and the county in Ireland where you want to get married, and get back an interactive listing of hotels with availability on your preferred wedding date. You 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. Couples will save their precious time, and the best thing is the service is free to use.

While multi-national companies get up and go at the first sign of a better deal elsewhere, it’ll be the home-grown enterprises who’ll continue to form the backbone of the Irish economy. It’s brilliant to see the likes of Ciara coming on the scene with her quirky, innovative and service-driven attitude, and it’s smart concepts like WeddingDates.ie that will see us through the tough times and beyond.