A magnificent 15th-century haven nestled in the heart of County Louth, Darver Castle was once a noble stronghold and is now a lovingly restored estate that served as the venue for Cherie Hoey's wedding to Gary Donaghy on June 27, 2024. Photographed by Sun & Beau Photography, if you're looking for inspiration from one of our most decisive brides, you're in for a treat!
The couple have been together for nearly 12 years! Having met during their school years, the two had plenty of lunch and library dates for the first couple of years, before moving to Liverpool for university after a year of being together.
"Even after being together for nearly 10 years, I was still shocked when we got engaged! We had booked to stay at the Slieve Russell Hotel for the Valentine’s Day 2022 weekend. But on our way down, I realised I had accidentally booked the wrong dates and started panicking. Gary stayed surprisingly calm and told me not to worry; we would get it sorted. Thankfully, when we arrived at the hotel, we were checked into a lovely room. Gary asked me to be ready for 7 pm before dinner to take some photos beforehand. When I was ready, he told me to turn around, and he would take a photo. He then put Ed Sheeran - Perfect on, and when I turned around, he was down on one knee with the engagement ring! I have never been so surprised, and it was one of the most memorable moments of our lives. I always said I wanted a private engagement and didn’t want anyone else around, so it was perfect being just the two of us."
Cherie was a remarkably relaxed bride and didn’t get too overwhelmed with her beauty regimen leading up to the wedding; instead, she just focused on staying well-hydrated, both physically and mentally, in the months leading up to the wedding. "My signature scent was Jo Malone - Orange Blossom. When I first smelled the fragrance, I was absolutely in love with it and knew it would be my wedding perfume. Getting married in June, I wanted a light and fresh scent that reminded me of summer (even if it rained most of our wedding day!)."
Although she had a clear idea in mind of what she wanted to wear, Cherie found it challenging to bring that vision to reality. "I knew I wanted a fitted dress with a detachable overskirt - I wanted two looks without having a change of clothing." She visited five or six bridal shops, leaving no dress unconsidered, but it wasn't until she went to Verona Bridal with her mum and maid of honour that Cherie finally found a gown that ticked all the boxes. "I could see myself walking down the aisle in it, and ordered it there and then."
"With the suits, we knew exactly what we wanted - a black tux for the groom and groomsmen. Gary went to O'Cathalains with his groomsmen and tried on a few different tuxes, narrowing it down to two types. Then, Gary and I went back to look together, and decided on the black tux with a slight pattern on it - it had a subtle dogtooth pattern that you could only see up close, but it stood out as a difference in comparison to a plain black tux. They all looked so smart on the day!"
Cherie's bridal party consisted of three wonderful girls: the maid of honour, Laura, and bridesmaids Melissa and Aoife. As soon as she had the party picked, Cherie was sure she wanted her bridesmaids in gold, and having seen the Jenny Yoo dresses she eventually chose right at the beginning of her search, it set the bar quite high for competitors. "I had ordered maybe twenty or thirty dresses online, but none of them were right. When I saw that Dream Bridal Coleraine had the Jenny Yoo - Ariana dress in stock, I booked an appointment straight away. We went up to Coleraine from Newry one afternoon, and the first dress I saw hanging up was the Jenny Yoo Ariana dress in pale gold. I absolutely loved it and knew straight away it was the dress - the girls tried it on and we all loved it, so we ordered it there and then! They were the most elegant, timeless dresses, and I absolutely loved them. Along with the tuxes, the whole bridal party looked amazing."
"We had our ceremony in the Sacred Heart Church, Cloughoge, just two minutes from my house. I remember standing at the altar looking out at everyone, and I couldn’t believe all of these people were here to celebrate us! It felt so surreal, my legs were like jelly by the time I got to the top of the aisle, and my hands were shaking, lighting our marriage candle - so much so I forgot to lift the taper candle to light mine, and Gary had to help me! My favourite part had to be the music - we had a string quartet playing all of our hand-picked songs throughout the ceremony - I walked down the aisle to a string quartet version of Ed Sheeran - Perfect, the song we got engaged to, which was so special."
The pair had their venue booked within a month of getting engaged (Talk about organised)! "I always pictured having a castle wedding, and a few weeks after we got engaged, Darver Castle was hosting a viewing evening. It was the first and only venue we viewed, and we absolutely loved it; we reserved our date on the spot." One of the biggest perks of the castle was the exclusivity it offered the guests, along with the stunningly appointed reception rooms. "We loved that we didn’t have to worry about the weather for photos, as the rooms and decor were absolutely amazing and tied in with our neutral gold colour scheme. The staff at Darver were absolutely amazing and couldn’t do enough for us!"
"We had a lot of entertainment throughout the day, with music playing a significant part in our activities. We had the Arco String Quartet play during our ceremony and then again at our drinks reception at Darver Castle, who were amazing. We had Sharon Carrol playing the harp during our dinner, which was the perfect relaxing background music before the dancing started. We knew we wanted The Nooks for our after-dinner band, and they were one of the first things we booked when we secured our wedding date! They brought an amazing atmosphere and had the floor filled with dancing all night. Finally, we had the famous DJ Magigs! Again, I knew I wanted Magigs after hearing him a few years prior and as soon as we heard he was free on our date, we booked him. He is the best DJ to keep the crowd entertained and make sure that any songs we wanted were played. I would recommend all of our entertainment to anyone!"
Regarding the best decision, Cherie said, "Undoubtedly all of our vendors - from our florist, photographer, entertainment, and amazing venue - there is not one thing I would change about our whole day. Our photographer, Sarah, made sure our vision was executed perfectly, and we are so grateful to her that she got the most incredible photos from start to finish."
Regarding the worst decision, Cherie said, "Although it was a summer’s day in June, it was a typical Irish summer's day and it rained heavily all day! Before the wedding, I made sure to have 10 clear wedding umbrellas to ensure the whole bridal party was covered. But amidst the chaos, we left all but one in the wedding car, so we ended up sharing one umbrella throughout the whole wedding party. Even though we only had one umbrella and it was a rainy day, we ended up getting one of my favourite photos of us coming out of the Church into the rain with the famous umbrella!"
- Gráinne