For over 600 years, Luttrellstown Castle Resort has offered contemporary luxury in a picturesque setting. Spanning 567 acres of lush private parkland, the resort was the perfect venue for the wedding of Niamh Dunne to the founder of Ralco, Brendan Traynor, on the 31st of January, 2025. Photographed by Under the Veil and featured in the Autumn issue of SOCIAL & PERSONAL Weddings, you'll be hard-pressed to find a more impeccably dressed wedding party!
Despite both Niamh and Brendan being from Dundalk, they actually met in New York City! "Benny was living in New York, and I had just finished college at UCD and was heading to America on a J1 visa. My friend Kerri and I had some accommodation lined up for the first week. Still, we found it more challenging than expected to get longer-term accommodation and ended up staying with a friend of Kerri's who lived with Benny in Sunnyside, Queens. The rest was history."
"We got engaged in August of 2023 on the San Blas Islands off the coast of Panama City. We had been travelling around South America for two weeks, so the proposal just two days before we were due to fly home was a total surprise. If anyone has visited the San Blas islands, you will know how remote they are; there isn’t even cell service. It was a beautiful few days, and we could not wait to get home to celebrate with family and friends."
Niamh's beauty journey primarily consisted of eating well, drinking plenty of water, and staying active through regular gym sessions and walking. She kept her accessories to a minimum, opting for just a small pair of pearl earrings and a cathedral veil.
"For my signature scent, I wore Tom Ford’s Jasmin Rouge, a total flower bomb; it’s sweet and comforting without being overpowering or sickly. For his cologne, Brendan wore Tom Ford’s Oud Minérale. It’s a very masculine scent, with notes of pepper, balsam, and ambergris that blend to create an exciting fragrance."
Niamh has an identical twin sister who got married 9 months before her, which made finding a wedding dress that was different from hers quite tricky, especially since they have very similar styles. She wanted her wedding dress to have similar characteristics to her sister's, but still to feel like a totally different dress. Niamh was quite late in ordering her Chosen by Kyha gown, having to wait until the Trunk show at the Suite in Rathmines to try it on —only 3 months before the wedding, and with a rush order!
Brendan wanted a traditional look, and upon high recommendations from more than a few friends, decided to get his tuxedo at Abrahams. They offer a made-to-measure service for their wedding suits, so he was able to decide on almost every detail, down to the silk fabric of the blazer's shawl lapel.
Niamh’s Maid of honour was, of course, her identical twin sister, Orla! Accompanied by Niamh's three best friends, Orna, Kelly and Kate. She found the Dakota Maxi Dress in Cream & Black from Solace London, and after that, nothing else really compared! For the styling, they kept things clean and straightforward, pairing black heels with small dangle earrings and a loose, pulled-back hairstyle to complement her own updo.
"My favourite part of the ceremony was, without a doubt, seeing Brendan standing at the altar as I walked down the aisle. We had cut communication the evening before around 5 pm, so we were both dying to know how the other felt that morning and everything else that had happened in between. I’ll never forget the feeling of seeing each other on our wedding day in a church filled with our nearest friends and family."
Brendan loves Kerry and would have loved to invite everyone down to the Kingdom for a long weekend! But when Niamh and Brendan went to the Luttrellstown Castle wedding evening, they knew it was the venue of their dreams. "I loved everything about the castle, the period features, and particularly the dining hall where the dinner was served, as well as the Gotham hall where they had their drinks reception. The staff at Luttrellstown on the day of the wedding were outstanding."
"For our ceremony, we had the D String quartet playing modern songs. My song was Love Story by Taylor Swift! We wanted a live singer during their dinner reception, but could not have imagined how amazing Joe Petit and his team would be. There was a point we were having so much fun singing and dancing that we realised we had forgotten entirely to sit for our main course!"
"Organising a wedding, there are endless decisions, but I don’t believe there is a best or worst decision. You are surrounded by everyone who loves you and wants the best for you, and you are marrying someone with whom you will spend your life. Nothing else really matters on the day!"
- Gráinne