Long Distance Lovers: Brittany and Sean’s Markree Castle Wedding

Facebook
Twitter
Pinterest
WhatsApp

When a summer romance turns into happily ever after!

Prepare for a heartwarming real-life wedding with lots of cute moments and tons of beautiful ideas and inspiration for a spring or summer affair! Brittany Alexander from Vancouver and Sean Byrne from Dublin said ‘I do’ in the charming Markree Castle on April 15th 2022 and even had their dog Chickpea as the ring bearer!

Find out more about Markree Castle HERE!

Before we go any further, let’s go back to where it all started… with a summer fling – cue the Greece soundtrack!

HOW THEY MET

Sean met Brittany when he was visiting Vancouver on a working holiday visa in the summer of 2015 when the two were both in college. It wasn’t long before they bumped into each other on a night out and the rest was history!

“We spent every day of that summer together, telling ourselves it was only a summer romance and things would end when Sean went back to Ireland,” Brittany says. “We quickly realised this was something special and we decided we would start a long distance relationship when Sean had to go back.”

After a year of Skype calls, visits back and forth, and missing each other like crazy, Brittany graduated college and made the move across the world to Ireland! 

THE PROPOSAL

After five years of amazing memories, Sean proposed to Brittany on a cosy winter’s evening in their new home. How sweet!

“One quiet December evening in our new home, Sean got down on one knee in the living room and asked me to marry him. We celebrated over tea and gingerbread men cookies and called friends and family to share the happy news!”

THE PLANNING PROCESS

Brittany and Sean wasted no time in planning their dream wedding and booked their date at Markree Castle in Sligo before they were even officially engaged!

Brittany continues: “We visited Markree Castle and knew we had found the place where we would get married one day! We did the planning ourselves with help from the wonderful Deirdre and Nicholas from the Markree Castle wedding coordination team. 

“We’d like to give a shout out to Chef Lee from Markree Castle, who prepared a fully vegan menu for our wedding! I am vegan and Sean is vegetarian, so this was very important to us and very much appreciated. We are still getting comments from friends and family about how great the food was!

“Our friend Andy officiated the wedding ceremony, and our friend Cathal provided the music and his DJ services for the evening! It was really special to have them involved in the day. 

“We created the table signs ourselves, including funny quotes from Father Ted, which were well received by the Irish guests but certainly confused the Canadians!”

CAPTURING THE DAY

Claire from Studio Brown captured Brittany and Sean’s day beautifully with an array of bright and airy shots and stunning candids – we could really feel the love!

“We found Claire through Instagram years ago and loved her photography style,” Brittany says. “We hoped that would one day she would be our own wedding photographer! Claire did an amazing job, our photos are stunning and she captured all of our happy moments perfectly.”

WEDDING WARDROBE

Brittany looked like a real-life princess for her castle wedding in a 3D lace whimsical gown in style ‘Louie Flowy’ by Made With Love.

“I was looking for a romantic dress fit for the venue and fell in love with this gown while shopping in Vancouver with my mom and bridesmaids during a visit home. When I returned to Ireland, I managed to track the same dress down at Vintage Pearl Bridal, Galway.”

Sean also looked sharp in a khaki green tweed suit with a sage waistcoat from Moss Bros and sage floral bow tie from Mrs Bow Tie. The groomsmen all wore matching numbers while the bridesmaids wore sage green dresses in mix-matched styles from ASOS.

FAVOURITE MOMENT

Brittany and Sean’s standout moment from their wedding was seeing their pup Chickpea play out his big day role!

Brittany says: “The whole day was perfect. A highlight was seeing our pup, Chickpea, walk down the aisle as the ring bearer!”

BRIDAL ADVICE  

For the brides and grooms out there planning their own big day, Brittany has some wise words of advice… Take notes!

She says: “Enjoy every minute! The planning, the build-up and the day itself. It all goes by so fast.”

To see more inspirational real-life weddings click HERE!

Latest News

Sign up to get special offers and discounts, all the latest wedding trends and access to must-have suppliers!

© 2021 Copyright weddingjournalonline.com – Part of Penton Media Group