First Visit to Venues

So last Sunday myself and Conor went to see our first few venues. We want to see a good few places before we make up our minds so we thought we better make a start.

We were really looking forward to it and I was a little nervous when we got out of the car at the first place, but luckily we got a good one to begin with.

I won't say names of places, cos you never know! We had to visit places on a Sunday as we both work and thats the only day off we both have in common. We didn't get to meet with the wedding coordinators but the Duty Managers were able to give us a tour of the rooms and give us a little information.

The first place we went to was in a country area outside a town, which was nice (as a country girl myself), and there were ponies and goats in the fields around the hotel which I really liked. We went in and approached the girl at the desk. She offered us tea or coffee and had us take a seat in the lobby area with some of their wedding literature. The lobby in this place was really pleasant to sit in, it has a double height ceiling with a skylight and some really comfy armchairs. This is where the arrivals/tea/coffee take place on the day. The guy who showed us the room was very nice too. We only had to wait about a minute for him to come greet us. I didnt really like the big function room, but it did have a lovely private garden. There is a smaller function room that I much prefer but its not big enough for band and dancing in.

Overall really liked the feel of this place, its family run and it shows it had a more personal touch than the other place we visited nearby.

Which brings me to the other place...

This one was in the same town as the first but is part of a well known chain of hotels. Here we did the same thing as the last spot and approached the receptionist. She was not as friendly as the first place but asked us to have a seat. We weren't offered any refreshment here which was a pity because we were kept waiting for about 10 minutes to be seen despite having made an appointment. 

When eventually we were seen the guy just showed us the one function room and proceeded to give us his complete philosophy on weddings whether we wanted it or not! He told us what time of year we should have our wedding, what type of band we should get, when we should go on our honeymoon, he was nearly telling us who we should and shouldn't invite! It was crazy!

Both places were unable to show us the Bridal Suite as they were in use, but this probably won't effect our final decision too much anyway.

After that we went to see a resturant in a nearby town that has a function room that they use for weddings. I thought this might be an option for the type of wedding I'm imagining in my head. The room is without a doubt the nicest we had seen all day. It had exposed stone walls and so much more character than the standard square box of a function room. We had a great chat with the manager, who was very helpful, and stood up well to my interogation. It probably isnt the venue for us, as we will need a place with accommadation for people who need to travel, but I would have no problem recommending it to people apart from this.

We are going to hit another town soon, so I'll post about the options there later.

Love,

Aoife

Too early to start planning?

So as we don't live together we figured that we should maybe take care of that little matter before we start splashing the cash on a big day out. We were thinking of finding somewhere to live in 2010 and then tie the knot in 2011.

Well this last weekend gone we had Conors family over to my family home in Kildare for a sort of engagement party, a chance for everyone to meet each other so that the first time they see each other isn't on  the wedding day!

Well it went really well. Everyone got on great, the food was great, the chat was great. It was all great! Well ever since then we can't stop talking about the big day..... and I'm not sure if I can hold out till 2011!

...and then....

Just before we set out on our walk we bumped into Tessie and Dec. Tessie grew up in the house next door to my Dads and she used to look after myself and my brother and sisters after school when Mom was at work. Her and Dec are like part of our family and are invited to nearly all our family gatherings. We walked with them for while before heading off alone.

We called into an old graveyard and checked out all the old headstones, we walked down by the river, and tried to see any little fish. We crossed the bridge and followed the canal for a while. We walked around a new estate that had preserved some old ruins in its grounds. At the top of the village we stumbled upon an old rundown georgian townhouse. We managed to squeeze through the railings and spent ages exploring the ruins of the out buildings and the over grown back garden. We talked about all the things we would do to it if it was ours.

From there we headed towards the rath. Back in the day the rath was a big fort, but now its a huge mound of earth with a dip in the middle and some very large trees in a ring around it, in the middle of a big field. I'd been up to it a few times as a kid, but I wanted to see it again and wanted to show it to Conor. The rath is where my village gets its name from. To get to it you have to go into the grounds of an old church and climb over a wall.

The driveway to the church is a short sort of tree lined avenue, there was some bluebells in bloom and it was looking lovely. We got to the wall and stood on a bench to look into the field only to find it inhabited by 6 large bulls! With a trip to the rath off the cards we took a walk around the little graveyard that surrounded the church. Conor really wanted to see the rath so we took one final look before heading back down the church driveway. 

Now usually when we go for a walk, Conor is always having to slow down  to my pace, but on this occassion Conor was walking really slowly. As I started to get a little annoyed he sudenly stopped altogether. 

He turned to face me and got down on one knee, right in the middle of the driveway. He suddenly had a ring box in his hand. I don't know where it came from, I didn't notice him take it out. I don't remember breathing for a few seconds when he said the words and I had to ask him to repeat it before saying.....yes! At this point I was starting to shake and get a little emotional (in a good way of course!) I sat myself down on a nearby stump, Conor joined me and we had the best hug ever, on that stump under all those trees.

As we enjoyed our hug, two guys started walking up the church driveway with a lawn mower going to do some maintenance. I don't know what they thought was going on, with two people sitting on the stump of a tree in the middle of the afternoon, one with tears streaming down their cheeks, but we figured we needed to move on.....

Still feeling a little light headed we figured an occasion like this called for Champagne! We picked ourselves up a bottle on the way back. As we walked I noticed Tessie and Dec again. I couldn't keep it in so they were the first people to hear our news. This made me really happy as Tessie is nearly like a second mum to me.

Back at my house, I got to tell my Mum, Dad, brother and sisters and Aunt and Uncle. None of whom we're surprised as we had been together five years and Conor had asked my Dad that morning of he could ask me to marry him. To which my Dad replied "That would be in order". 

I agree Dad!

Our Engagement Story!

So one day a few months before me and Conor went ring shopping. Well when I say ring shopping we didn't go intending to actually buy anything, see what suited me and what kind of money we were looking at.

Well long story, short, we found one we both loved and went away to think about it. I'm incredibly indecisive, so in the end I just had to tell Conor to make the decision for me (it was his money afterall!).

So a while later it was the Sunday before Easter Sunday and Conor was up in my house in Kildare for a visit. We had been trying to save money so we're always trying to think of things we can do to have a day out together for as little money as possible. A few weeks before we had decided we could take a walk around my village as Conor had never really seen it and there was lots of lovely walks and little historical spots that I could show him.

So off we headed on our walk.....


To be continued.......

Today I hoovered up some of the biggest cobwebs today, created by what seems to be the smallest spiders ever.