Next up on the Wedding Series, Ciara from WeddingDates.ie explains why it’s OK to put a little (or a lot!) of your personality into your wedding. As we say to engaged couples again and again, please yourself and only yourself, because it’s your big day, and most guests won’t appreciate the effort half as much as you would like. It would seem that Ciara agrees!

Weddings are traditional affairs.  The walking down the aisle, giving away the bride and exchanging of vows has been around forever and a day. Being such a traditional event doesn’t mean weddings have to be boring, or staid, or downright dull.

Now I admit that I haven’t been to THAT MANY weddings, but it has been said on the street that some weddings can have a bit of a déjà vu effect.  Especially if it’s a siblings wedding or someone from the same group of friends.  Especially if it is held in the same venue or has the same band. My tuppence worth is that you should put your own stamp on your own wedding. It should have a flavour of the couple and include their interests and passions.  Why not after all?  Nobody but you is going to think that your wedding day is the most special day of their lives, so why make them sit through something beige?  Give them something to talk about, something to laugh about and something to remember!

Put some personality into your wedding décor.  Particularly with wedding favours or centrepieces, there is great opportunity to be creative!  What is exciting about tables numbered 1 to 10?  Nothing, that’s what.  How about photos of you and the groom in various holiday locations, or with various friends or family members who are sitting at that table.  How about themed centre pieces?  How about Fortune Cookie favours or little plant pots with seeds?  The choices are as limitless as your imagination.

Entertain your guests.  Between the ceremony and the meal and between the meal and the band there will be a lull in proceedings.  People have taken time off work, bought a new frock and possibly travelled to be with you on your big day.  You’d better make damn sure you feed, water and entertain them!! There is nothing worse than people being so hungry before the meal they get cranky, or worse yet – hit the bar too hard!  Provide your guests with some finger food or canapés if there is a long gap before they are eating again.  A cheese buffet is a nice idea here as well, especially if you can serve it with some nice wine.

There should also be something more for the guests to do than just drink – I had a magician at my launch party and he worked really well, mingling between the guests, not intrusive at all but the perfect way to liven up peoples afternoon.  Other ideas I have heard bandied about are Big Games (ie, inflatable twister, giant boxing ring, Sumo suits etc) – sounds a bit mental, but you can be damn sure that people would let their hair down and have a good ol’ laugh – and isn’t that what you want for people at your wedding?

Please yourself.  While you have to consider the needs and wants of your guests (as above) you also can’t please everybody.  And if Granny is coming and can’t stand loud music but you have your heart set on a kickin’ band, then I’d be finding Granny a quiet spot where she could hang out.  As soon as you start to try to satisfy everyone, you will most certainly end up not satisfying anyone, most particularly yourself.  So make the tough choices and make it a day to remember for you guys and filled with fun and personality.  Even if you are into Death Metal (!)

For more tips, musings and unusual ideas for weddings, check out Ireland’s number one wedding blog: www.weddingdates.ie/blog

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.