When you know you know!
We love a good love story and when we read Mariëtte and Christopher’s our hearts swelled! Although the couple worked at the same company in the Netherlands it took them six years to meet and fall in love. Both living and working in the bride’s home country, the Netherlands, the couple decided to take the challenge and plan a destination Wedding in Northern Ireland where the groom grew up. Having looked and looked tirelessly online at wedding locations, Mariëtte was beginning to lose hope of finding her fairytale wedding venue. Once Christopher suggested the Slieve Donard Resort and Spa, the choice was clear! With the bride’s precise planning skills and an extremely helpful weddings team Mariëtte and Christopher’s dream wedding came together beautifully at the picturesque location.
See all the pastel details and stunning cake display from this sweet couple’s June wedding at the Slieve Donard Resort and Spa.
The Beginning
“We both work for the same company but we don’t actually work together so it took us 6 years before we really started to talk. We had more or less the same things in common so we decided to meet after work and so it happened.”
How did you know?
“I don’t know. It is just a feeling you have but I guess as soon as I knew that I always want to wake up next to Christopher, and could not imagine myself a life without him.”
The Proposal
“The proposal was at home, we were together in a nice intimate environment. He went on his knee and had a personal story together with a beautiful diamond ring.”
The Planning Process
“Planning was not the easiest part, especially because we don’t live in Northern Ireland. One of the wishes of Christopher was to have our wedding in the country he was born, Northern Ireland. It seemed a really good idea for me (I could already see the fairytale wedding at the inside off my eyes) so I started to look for venues, which was quite a challenge already.”
“I saw a lot of nice venues but never find something we really liked. Eventually, I asked Christopher which venue he liked the most and he suggested the Slieve Donard in New Castle. After checking it out on the internet and seeing how it looked I agreed straight away. The location, the style, the grandeur- it was perfect. The Chandelier room with its sea view made the whole fairytale complete. I emailed and came in contact with John who helped us so well from the beginning till the end. Every detail was written out, which I really loved. We came over two times before our wedding and even when I came with my excel spreadsheet and whole folder with all the different details I found, nothing was too much. Till the very last moment, I emailed all my spreadsheets to make sure everything went well. I am quite a nervous person myself so knowing John picked everything up so precisely was a really good thought.”
“Eugene was our banqueting manager and he helped us through the day from beginning till the end. Everything was so extremely well-coordinated and communicated. It takes all your stress away and you can do nothing else then just relax and enjoy your wedding. So we did, and we had a perfect day. We received only compliments on everything, all the details, the decoration, the flowers, the cake, the venue. A lot of people came from overseas so they never saw the Slieve Donard before and they were extremely impressed. We received nothing else but compliments about the food. Also for vegetarians, there was more enough to choose from. Even for myself, I eat vegetarian and have a lactose intolerance but also that was not a problem at all.”
The Wedding Attire
“I bought my dress at Bruidsboutique ZeeYes in Zierikzee, the place we actually met each other and both work. I went with two of my bridesmaids and my mom. A week after ordering my dress I emailed the store to make the train one meter longer and the dress wider. So on the day itself, it looked different and more fantastic than at the moment we all choose the dress. They were very surprised.”
“I had two bridesmaids, my cousin and a very good friend, and 1 mini maid who is the cousin of my husband. The bridesmaids had a green pastel coloured dresses and the mini maid a blush coloured one that complemented perfectly with my wedding dress.”
“For Christopher’s suit, he went to Tailor Ronald Deurloo in Zierikzee. He went with my head bridesmaid to make sure the suit will match well with my dress. Christopher had two groomsmen, one cousin and one friend, and one usher. All three had exactly the same suits that perfectly matched Christopher’s suit.”
Themes & Trends
“Soft pastel pink and white, elegant and romantic. All the guests were requested to dress in pastel colours.”
“We wanted it to be elegant and stylish. I love the combination of pink and white, with beautiful flowers and blossoms, and our venue decorator had understood that perfectly. Together with the florist, they made it absolutely perfect. She had a stunning cake standard of a blossom tree with a cake swing and that was something I really wanted.”
“I had designed the table plan as a map of the world and placed every table in another country because we had guests coming over from different places in Europe. Our table was France and I made little vintage suitcases with a mini chocolate bar off Merci in it as our wedding favour. Paris is one of our favourite cities we go to once every year, it is around three hours driving for us and we love to be there for the weekend.”
On the Day
“The day was more like three days, in a good way. We came over two days before so we had to make sure everything was packed, nothing could be forgotten. My dress was too big to go in hand luggage so it had to go in the hold, that was the most stressful flight ever for me. But it all went perfect, a lot of people came over the day before our wedding and on that day almost all flight got a few hours off delay and some flights even got cancelled, so that was a quite an exciting moment. Luckily the flight from Holland towards Northern Ireland only got delayed so everybody was there only a few hours later than expected. Most of the people stayed in the Slieve Donard so we were already all together the night before.”
“Then it was the Saturday! Nervous and excited about everything and afraid to walk up the aisle. But when the moment was there and I walked up I could only smile and be happy and everything was so amazing, every detail was perfect so the day itself we can only be extremely happy and we look back at really the most beautiful day of our lives.”
Special Moments & Highlights
“I cannot specify a particular highlight of the day. The best moment of the day was when I walked up the aisle and saw my husband to be standing there waiting for me. It was also a real relief when I was at the end of that aisle because that meant that the day was starting, and I could stop planning and just let it all happen because I knew it was well organized. I also loved all the other parts of the day, it was just so perfect. The weather was absolutely amazing, sunny and around 25°C.”
Christopher his highlight of the day was when Mariette walked in and came up the aisle.
A word of advice
“Start on time. Make sure you plan the things that are important for you very well in time so there cannot be any stress about “big” things.”
The Honeymoon
“We went a few days after our wedding for 17 days to Mauritius.”
