Autumnal & Rustic Clandeboye Lodge Hotel Wedding

I am over the moon to be sharing Barry and Stevie’s darling wedding day, held at Clandeboye Lodge Hotel. Their day was a complete triumph, totally personal, really meaningful and full of love.

They had a gorgeous autumnal feel with pumpkins, seasonal blooms and orange and green tones. The DIY details were superb, and I adore their outfits (hello gold sparkly dress!). From the gorgeous portraits to the live music, this was one very special day indeed.

Thanks ever so much to Silver Lace Photography for sharing with us these joy filled images. Wow.

Clandeboye Lodge Hotel Wedding

The Proposal

For my 30th birthday, we planned a trip to Massachusetts in order to spend Halloween in Salem, something I’ve wanted to do for years! We first spent a few fun days in Boston before heading to Salem for the main event!

On our last night we were out for dinner to celebrate my birthday when Barry passed a note and small box to me. I first opened the note which simply read “To my Fiancée, X”. I immediately responded with “is this a joke?!” to which we both burst out laughing. I then opened the box to see a gorgeous engagement ring and after realising it indeed was not a joke, we headed to a bar for some celebratory drinks!

The Vision

We’d always discussed getting married in Autumn and incorporating lots of gorgeous greens and rust colours so we ran with that. The autumnal theme also suited our more natural and handmade décor and we included lots of pumpkins as a nod to when and where we got engaged! We wanted it to be very “us” all round.

Budget

We didn’t really have a budget as such but we did want to keep costs as low as possible which was helped by the fact we did a lot of things ourselves.

The Ceremony & Music

We had a fabulous humanist ceremony performed by the wonderful Ciara Turley! We really wanted something personal and to include our family as equally as possible. Ciara really took on board all of our requests and was a great help in advising us of flow etc. My dad, brother, and stepdad, as well as Barry’s dad were all involved in various parts of the ceremony and the different rituals we picked. (We had our mums give speeches at dinner instead of the traditional dad’s speeches!)

I walked down the aisle to an orchestral version of Electric Love by Borns. The Shire by Howard Shore was played during the signing of the registry and we then concluded our ceremony with an orchestral version of The Middle by Jimmy Eat World.

So many of our guests were used to traditional religious ceremonies so we had lots of people commenting on how it was the best and most personal wedding ceremony they had attended!

The Venue

We ended up choosing Clandeboye Lodge Hotel as we could have our humanist ceremony on site in the attic of a gorgeous old converted school house with it’s exposed beams and arched windows, and then have the reception downstairs in a rustic period style room which suited our vibe.

Having the whole wedding in one location was also handy for cutting down on that in between journey, meaning one less journey for our guests, and it also had enough rooms to accommodate our guests who had travelled, many of which were flying in from other countries!

It’s also near a beach we like to visit so we have made a pact that every time we visit the beach, we will stop by the hotel for a drink or bite to eat!

Your Outfits

I ended up taking a chance on a dress I had fallen in love with online from Etsy!

I didn’t want to wear a veil so I ended up making my own detachable wedding cape to give my dress a slightly more bridal look. I wore a necklace and ring belonging to my late granny as my “something old” and borrowed a pair of earrings from my bridesmaid. My “something blue” was some of the detail in my glittery floral shoes from Rainbow Club which were literally called “Gold Glitter Bomb”!

I did my own makeup but had artists in to do our hair as well as makeup for my mum and bridesmaid.

Barry was very specific when it came to what he wanted to wear and ended up purchasing pieces from a few different places to get the look he wanted. His jacket, which was a gorgeous dark green velvet, and his trousers were both from Reiss and his waistcoat was from a local shop, Suitor Bros. He got his tie and matching pocket square from Etsy and wore shoes he already owned. He also treated himself to a nice wedding watch as a memento of the day.

Your Photographer

I came across Lisa of Silver Lace Photography on Instagram and just loved her warm and natural editing style! We knew it would enhance our colour scheme as well as make the weather look better if we got a bad day…not rare in Northern Ireland!

As part of our package we met Lisa for an engagement shoot where we could get to know each other a bit more before the big day. This was super helpful especially as we are both a bit uncomfortable in front of the camera. Lisa was easy to chat to, good at giving direction, and a fabulous photographer all round!

The Honeymoon

We are planning on heading to Peru at the end of 2025 to see Macchu Picchu and explore the Amazon jungle!

Memorable Moments

We both really enjoyed our ceremony with each little ritual and our family members getting involved.

Also many memorable songs and dances on the dancefloor by the fab Funk N Disorderly!

The Styling & Decor

I’m an artist and Barry is a graphic designer so we worked together to DIY much of our wedding. We both had a hand in our invitations and Barry designed our welcome sign, personalised menus for each guest, and our seating plan. I painted an old frame black and gold and Barry secured the plans to the board with a wax seal and hand painted the lettering on it.

For our table centres, I handmade bouquets for each table which were surrounded by a mix of candles, pumpkins and pinecones that I had amassed before the wedding. We also used these on our top table and as the main focus, Barry carved our initials into a white pumpkin to sit in front of us.

I also handmade mine and my bridesmaid’s bouquets and the boutonnieres for all the immediate family members as well as our cake topper. Our cake was lovingly made by Barry’s mum who also added her own décor to the base.

Lastly, I handmade clay ornaments each stamped with our guests names and a leaf motif which doubled up as both placenames and favours.

Advice For Other Couples

Focus on what aspects are really important to you but overall, don’t sweat the small stuff. Pretty much all of our friends were married before us and the one thing we took away from their weddings (in relation to planning our own) was what we *didn’t* notice or remember, and we applied that thought process to our own wedding when we could to keep decisions and budget to a minimum!