A beautifully restored Georgian house and courtyard surrounded by private grounds, Clonabreany House was the ever-charming venue for the wedding of nurse, Jennifer Collins, to engineer, Colin Fennessy, on March 28th 2025. This hometown celebration, this early spring wedding day was filled with perfectly personal touches, photographed by Weddings by Jason.
Jen and Colin's story began in 2017, with a right swipe and a simple emoji of a lime to break the ice. Suffice it to say, it worked, and over the August bank holiday weekend, the pair spent a few days chatting and getting to know each other. By the end of it, Colin decided to ask Jen on their first date at the Oval pub in Cork. "We really hit it off and the conversation seemed to flow so easily, one drink turned into a night of hopping from place to place, giddy with the excitement and finishing in the Secret Garden nightclub at Reardens. After this, Colin, ever the gentleman, walked me all the way home."
"In December 2022, Colin bought a promise ring with plans to use it for his proposal. After successfully hiding it for nearly two months, he organised a weekend getaway to an Airbnb outside Fethard in Co. Wexford for Jen, Ron (our pet English Bulldog) and himself. We arrived at the Airbnb – a beautifully renovated old watermill – and settled in for what should have been a relaxing evening before the big day. Unfortunately, Ron had other plans. Being very much a puppy at the time, he was not happy with his temporary bed and made such a ruckus. Colin decamped to the couch, shortly after, joined by Ron, leaving Jen the double bed all to myself! The next morning, we headed to Booley Beach and Colin strapped a GoPro to Ron’s harness, telling me it would be fun to get footage of Ron running on the sand. In reality, our puppy was about to be the Spielberg of this proposal. While I was playing with Ron, it gave Colin enough time to get on one knee, and as I turned, Colin, who had rehearsed for this moment, forgot every word in the English language. Luckily, I didn’t leave him hanging!"
"Like many brides, I began my wedding beauty journey a year before the wedding. I suffered from acne, so I decided to invest in myself and started on my skincare journey. I visited Fiona at Riona Aesthetics, who created a bespoke plan for my skin that included tailored products, glycolic peels, microneedling, and exosomes. I felt so confident and glowing on my wedding day. The excellent Dominque of Colour Palette Dunshaughlin took care of my hair, ensuring my colour and hair health were perfect in the lead-up to the day. For tan, I went with Paula of Paula's Beauty Spot and was able to have the tan done from the comfort of my own home."
Jen started her wedding dress journey by booking an appointment with MK Bridal in Navan. "Caroline was fabulous at picking out and encouraging me to try on different styles and narrowing it down to my two favourites. I visited another shop to try on some more dresses, but none compared to the MK Bridal gowns." To take a break from dresses, Jen waited a few weeks before returning to MK Bridal to try on her favourites again. In the meantime, though, she spotted a dress on their Instagram that caught her eye, and on her revisit, she asked to try it on. "As soon as I slipped into it, I knew that was the one! I really didn't expect to pick my dress that day, so I had brought just one of my friends with me. When I knew that was the dress, I had my friend send a photo to the other bridesmaids and my mum."
"We knew we wanted tuxedos for the groomsmen and wanted Colin to stand out as the groom. Colin's favourite colour is blue, so he was sure he wanted a blue velvet jacket. We went to Best Menswear in Blanchardstown, who were fantastic and fitted Colin out."
Jen's bridesmaids were her three best friends: Nicola and Aoife, whom she met in nursing school, and Danielle, her next-door neighbour! "I found the perfect blue dresses in Folkster. A year before the wedding, Folkster Dundrum was having a huge closing-down sale, so my bridesmaid and I were at the door for the opening, ready to find the perfect dresses. We divided and conquered as there was such a vast selection on offer, and there they were at the very end of a rail."
"Our ceremony was just perfect. We knew we always wanted to have a personal ceremony on site in Clonabreany. We chose Graham after conducting some research on Instagram about celebrants. We knew from our first call with Graham that he was a good fit for us and our wedding day. Our close friends Kevin and Yasmin provided the beautiful singing for the ceremony. They swapped from their comfort zone as musical stage actors to wedding singers for the day. We are so grateful they agreed to be part of our day; it was special to us. Knowing that they were singing me down the aisle with a beautiful rendition of "Don't Want to Miss a Thing” made me feel so relaxed and even more excited to take that special walk! Favourite Part of the ceremony, apart from finally becoming Mr and Mrs Fennessy, was when our beloved dog, Ron, made his entrance as our ring bearer to “Who Let the Dogs Out?"
As soon as the pair viewed Clonabreany House, they knew it was the perfect fit for their wedding. "When we got engaged, my Instagram algorithm started to suggest various posts of wedding venues, and Clonabreany House popped up as one, so I clicked in and scrolled through the page. I showed the page to Colin and suggested setting up a viewing to take a look. A few weeks later, we visited Clonabreany House for a private viewing." It was love at first sight, and Jen was sold straight off the bat. "When Colin and I sat back in the car, I asked, "What do you think?" and luckily, he loved the venue! There was nothing we didn't like. Both of us felt that we didn't need to look at any other venue, as it ticked all the boxes for us, and we decided to lock in the date."
"From the viewing to the food tasting, to the lead-up and everything on the day, Clonabreany House was just outstanding! Our Wedding Co-Ordinator, Shauna, was amazing. She communicated with us in the lead-up and on the day, had everything down to a tee! The running and organisation in Clonabreany are first-class; the whole day just ran without a hitch, which made us feel incredibly relaxed, and we thoroughly enjoyed our day. Our guests highly commended all the staff, saying they were extremely attentive."
"We chose Top of the Popz as our wedding band. After seeing their showcase, we knew they were the right vibe and fit for us. They played to the crowd and kept the dancefloor full all night. My favourite memory is their rendition of Taylor Swift's “Love Story”; The whole crowd got on their feet and exploded into dance when they heard the song. On the night, we also had Photobooth Ireland. The attendant was great and kept the photos going for hours, filling an album, which is great to have for memories."
"I would say picking Clonabreany House was one of the best decisions we made, from start to finish, they were just amazing! Another great decision was keeping things local; we live in Dunshaughlin, our wedding cake, flowers, and make-up artist are all Dunshaughlin-based."
- Gráinne