Flower goals, puppy love and the most beautiful outdoor celebration!
After seven years of magical memories, Catherine and Gregory of Ballinderry finally said ‘I Do’ on 19th June in St Patrick’s Chapel followed by a stylish summer celebration at Ballyscullion Park – which of course included their fur baby Millie!
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HOW THEY MET
It was back in 2014 that Catherine and Gregory hit the town and accidentally found the love of their lives (if only it was always that easy!).
“My best friend Claire, who was my bridesmaid, and Gregory’s best friend and bestman, Aiden, were going out with each other for like a year and we met through them,” Catherine says.
“Claire would always say to me ‘you have to meet Gregory’, but he was from Fermanagh so I was thinking ‘when am I ever going to meet him?! It wasn’t until one night a group of us went out in Omagh and we were all on a bus from Fermanagh when we bumped into each other.
“It actually did blossom quite quickly! We started meeting up more and going out on a few dates here and there and took a trip up to Belfast. Gregory was working away in Fermanagh, so we only got to see each other on weekends but we were texting and just kept at it, and now here we are!”
Catherine and Gregory weren’t together long when they both decided to take a leap of faith and move to New Zealand – which was only the beginning of their many adventures to come!
Catherine continues: “After a year of being together, we both decided on it because we love to travel and are always up for an adventure! It was a wee bit daunting at the start because we hadn’t been going out that long and we knew it would either make or break us.
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“We made the move in 2016 and it ended up being the best decision! We only planned to go for a year and ended up staying for two and a half. We just loved it so much but we were missing our families, so we moved back home in 2018. We also did a lot of travelling and visited places like Singapore, Asia, Cambodia, Thailand and Germany!”
THE PROPOSAL
After having the time of their lives in New Zealand, Catherine and Gregory had to adjust after moving back home and only seeing each other again on the weekends.
Catherine tells us: “We were trying to get ourselves back into routine again and Gregory had to go back home to Fermanagh and I went back home to Ballinderry, so it was like taking two steps back. But we made it work and then Gregory surprised me with a trip to New York!
“We had been through a lot and had a tough year with my Mum who wasn’t well and was in hospital for a while and Greg was my rock through everything. He booked the trip for my birthday present and we went away at Christmas in 2019 – it never even came into my head about getting engaged!
“It was such an amazing holiday and he popped the question right in Central Park. I was totally blown away and shocked, but of course I said yes straight away!”
THE PLANNING PROCESS
We all know Christmas is a big time for proposals, and Catherine and Gregory wasted no time in starting their wedding planning journey.
“We wanted to relax and enjoy being engaged, but we didn’t wait for too long because we knew there would be a influx of people booking things, so we made a start between Christmas and the new year in 2020,” Catherine explains.
“We originally booked Ballymascanlon House Hotel – we had been to a wedding there before and loved it so we had everything set with our venue on 19th June 2021 which was all going well until Covid hit!
“We stuck to our date and venue for a while thinking things would ease, and were constantly waiting on news from the government, but by the time Christmas came again things were getting a bit close for comfort. Ballymascanlon were saying that we’d most likely only be allowed 25 people and said we could look elsewhere if needed.
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“We were a bit lost then thinking ‘where are we going to go now?’ so we started doing our own research and that’s when Gregory brought up Ballyscullion Park. It’s only 20 minutes from me so I guess when it’s on your doorstep, you never really think of it. They happened to have our date available, so we just went with it!”
DREAM WEDDING SUPPLIERS
After a cosy ceremony in their hometown at St Patrick’s Church, Catherine and Gregory enjoyed a magical celebration at Ballyscullion Park with 120 family and friends – and their dog Millie!
“Ballyscullion is a walled garden area and we got to hire out the whole estate for the day which had a marquee, fire pit and lots of land to take photographs!” Catherine says.
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“Ballyscullion also recommended other suppliers to use which we could use. The Wedding Room did some décor like the centrepieces, drapes and fairylights. Greg and I also made a few DIY pieces like the table plan, the photobooth and the signs.”
They also went for a stunning array of flowers by The Wild Flower in Portadown which included cappuccino roses, pampas grass and pheasant tails.
“If there was any of my suppliers who I would rave on about, it would be Lindsey,” Catherine says. “As soon as I came across her work, I just knew that was the style of flowers I wanted for my wedding – and I was obsessed with how they turned out!”
“Majella from M&M Cakes in Bessbrook was also fabulous. We kept our cake very simple with ivory icing and a touch of gold foil and a bit of décor with the flowers. It was a mixture of lemon drizzle, carrot cake and red velvet with passionfruit! Then my mum made a little fruit cake and we decorated it together to tie it all together.
“For food, we had an amazing variety from Arbutus catering. We had booked last minute so we actually never had a tasting and just picked our choices, but everyone was ranting and raving about the food – it was very different like duck, curry, chicken skewers, and everyone still talks about the beef!”
CAPTURING THE DAY
Ryan McDonald Photography captured Catherine and Gregory’s picture-perfect day with an array of scenic shots and cute candids that they will cherish forever.
“Photographers were one of the first things I started looking for when we got engaged and when I saw Ryan’s work, I just loved his style of photos,” Catherine says.
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“We wouldn’t be one for posey photos or having someone in your face all day and Ryan just captured everything so naturally in the moment. He was amazing to deal with on the day and we hardly even knew he was there!
“My cousin actually did my wedding film. He started up his own company, Silver Valley Films, in Canada and done some Game of Thrones before, but this was his first time doing a wedding film and it worked out amazing!”
WEDDING WARDROBE
Catherine looked breathtaking in a Pronovias Alcyone dress from Serendipity Bridal in Fivemiletown.
“I had screenshotted a pile of different dresses I was interested in, but I wasn’t really too sure what I wanted,” she says. “I did find one Pronovias dress which I really liked but it was on La Boda Bridal’s website so I had booked in with them and another boutique.
“Serendipity was actually the first boutique I visited and I really didn’t expect to find the dress because I had others booked. But as we were going through the railings, I spotted that Pronovias which I couldn’t believe they had!
“I tried it on first and I loved it, but I kept trying on more dresses just to be sure and it came down to it and a Suzanne Neville dress with a bodice and lace sleeves. In the end, the Pronovias dress was more comfortable and ticked all the boxes, so I went straight back to the first dress I ever tried on!
Catherine’s bridesmaids looked stunning in blush pink dresses from The Wedding Centre in Randalstown with a simple style and low cut back. Gregory also looked sharp in a charcoal grey suit with a checked waistcoat and maroon blazer from Freddie Hatchet. The groomsmen also wore opposite matching combos with grey jackets and maroon waistcoats.
FAVOURITE MOMENT
When it comes down to Catherine and Gregory’s favourite moments from the wedding, it was hard to pick just one from their magical day.
Catherine tells us: “I enjoyed every minute but it just it went by in a blink! After the mass we went to the site where we’re going to build our first house and got photos taken by an old cottage that’s been here for over 100 years – it will be knocked down when we start building so we got some lovely pictures to remember where it all started!
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“That time on our own, even though it was only 20 minutes, was really lovely. That and just walking around the gardens at Ballyscullion and enjoying having all our family and friends all together really made our day.”
BRIDAL ADVICE
For all the brides-to-be out there planning their day during this stressful time, Catherine has some positive words of advice.
She says: “Don’t stress too much about it! Everything falls into place in the end and the wee small things you do worry about will not even be noticeable on the day.
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“I was worrying about so many little things like sweets and pictures I wanted set out and I wasn’t able to set them out myself the day before – which having slight OCD made me stressed because I wanted everything perfect!
“Even to this day, I couldn’t tell you where they were sitting now so it just shows it’s not worth stressing over. On the day we were just so happy in the moment and it all turned out amazing. I wouldn’t change a thing.”
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