Home is Where the Heart is: Anna & Jason’s Dream Day

Real Irish Weddings

Sometimes there is no place like home to get hitched!

We invite you to share in the joyous real-life wedding of Anna Blakely & Jason Barr as they celebrated their love in the comfort of Anna’s parent’s home!

Surrounded by the warmth and familiarity of their cherished space, Anna and Jason created an intimate and personalised wedding experience that truly reflected their unique love story. From the heartfelt ceremony to the delightful reception, join us as we relive the magical moments of this extraordinary at-home wedding, filled with love, laughter, and cherished memories.

How did you both first meet?

We met in Newcastle! Jason and I have a lot of mutual friends and would all go out together at the weekends. We ended up talking while on a night out and then he wouldn’t leave me alone! This would have been the Christmas of 2018. Jason made it official in January 2019 after asking my brother how he should ask me out.

Tell us about the proposal!

For Christmas 2021, I got Jason a trip to New York for his birthday that coming February. He had already been planning getting a ring but that cemented it. He had the ring ordered through his grandparents as he was working away in England at the time. I had been banging on for ages about wanting a ring and had given up getting married, that’s when he thought would be the best time! We were in New York in our hotel room and it was also his birthday the day he proposed! The date was the 4th of February, 2022.

When did you start planning your wedding?

I loved planning! It was one hundred per cent my favourite thing to do. I had my wedding dress picked and bought within 3 weeks of getting engaged! Furthermore, between me and my mum, we did all the planning ourselves; we love that kind of stuff!

I bought a little Cricut machine where I was able to make all my wedding favours, signs etc! I fell pregnant in August 2022 so that threw a spanner in the works for the wedding being planned for August 2023. However, we continued planning as if nothing was any different.

Tell us more on your wedding suppliers.

I was very lucky with my suppliers. The venue was actually at my parent’s house, as they live in the country with insane views of the Mourne mountains. We didn’t want to miss that opportunity! So, we hired Tipis from Magnakata and had it in their field. My mum did all the flowers and the wedding cake, the food was cooked in my husband’s food truck and it was a bring-your-own-drink wedding so all guests supplied their own.

My hair was done by Zoe Potts and makeup by Laura McNamee! I couldn’t recommend them enough! For our music we used DJ Magiggs. What can I say? That guy sure knows how to throw a party and get everyone going! The dance floor didn’t stop from the moment he started to the very end! Furthermore, he is so talented, I loved every second of the party!

Who captured your day?

My photography was done by Leigh Parke! He couldn’t have done a better job for us! We were so pleased with everything he captured from start to finish. There was absolute chaos in our house on the morning of the wedding and we wouldn’t have even known he was in there with us! He also knew exactly what I would want without even having to tell him. We knew we wanted to have Leigh from the moment we got engaged as a couple of our friends had used him and we were obsessed with their pictures.

We used Ciaran Harper Film for our videography. Ciaran is a close family friend who started doing wedding videography just the year after our wedding, I had always seen his work with his videos from holidays and trips. I just knew that whatever he produced for us would be incredible! So far, we have received our highlight video and it’s just amazing! Like Leigh, you wouldn’t have known Ciaran was there all day! He just got the whole thing right, knew what I’d want and ensured our video would be upbeat and fun and not slow just how we wanted. He also worked alongside his dad Garry who is just as much fun and a professional like Ciaran!

What did you wear?

My dress! Where do I start; it was the second shop went to, and as soon as I tried it on, I knew it was the one! I went to Jill Jones Bridal. Jill is amazing, she can tell you exactly what you want to wear straight away. She’s so fun to talk to and made the entire appointment incredible! My dress was from designer Enzoani. I knew I wanted something fun on the back of my dress, whether it was backless or had a design. What I chose was exactly what I wanted.

The grooms and groomsmen’s suits were hired from Bingham’s in Newcastle. They were amazing too, helping us with anything we needed from start to finish. I got our bridesmaid dresses from a website called Azazie. They allow you to buy a sample dress in your design and it comes and gives an idea of what the style was like before you would order your sizes. I would also recommend the dresses to anyone and they were a great price!

What was your favourite part of the day?

I’d have to say our first dance, we had our close friend and one of the groomsmen Stephen Rafferty sing our first dance, it was Biblical by Callum Scott, I just loved how personal it was that Jason’s best friend was able to sing this for us. Jason’s favourite part of the day would have to be the father-daughter dance. As I was up with my daddy, he joined me near the end of the song with our wee girl Isla. This was very emotional for a lot of people watching. I loved seeing him with his wee girl as I was dancing with my dad!

Any advice you can give?

Take your time and enjoy every second of it! Also during the day, take half an hour to yourselves just chill together as a newly married couple! We took a drive with each other before the drinks reception and it was so lovely to reflect on the day! It went so fast and we barely saw each other so it was nice having that time together alone!