An 18th-century land master house and adjoining courtyard lovingly restored into a luxury wedding venue, Clonabreany House in the heart of the Meath countryside was the perfect venue for Shauna Brown and Shane O’Sullivan's wedding on the 28th of November 2024. Photographed by Laura Parkinson Photography, with winter just around the corner, we're delighted to share this festive inspiration!
The couple's love story was simple but sweet, having met on a dating app in 2019. The two went on a date, and almost immediately felt an instant spark. Six years later, they were making their vows!
"Our anniversary is in September, so we had planned to go to Lanzarote to celebrate our fourth year, but as the date was approaching, Shane told me we were going to Sorrento in Italy instead. It came as such a surprise to me, but I didn’t expect a proposal this year, so I didn’t think it was anything other than a romantic surprise. When we arrived in Sorrento, we got ready and had a drink in the hotel before we headed out. Shane told me he had to go to the bathroom, so I waited for him at the bar. After a few minutes, he texted me to meet him at the hotel's beach entrance downstairs. I went down and found him standing there with music playing, with the whole area to ourselves. It was the perfect proposal. We spent the evening celebrating and calling our friends and family."
When it came to her beauty routine, Shauna made sure to stay consistent with skin cycling (a structured routine that revolves around limiting the use of active ingredients and exfoliants to just two nights a week to give your skin a break), plenty of water, and a few IPL treatments done by Kerry Hanaphy to address her pigmentation. "I picked two amazing people (Ruth and June) to do my makeup and hair, so I knew this would take a lot of pressure off me." For her perfume, she wore her go-to, fancy fragrance, YSL Libre.
For some, the process of finding their wedding dress is as simple as choosing an everyday outfit, but for Shauna, it ended up being quite a stressful experience. She left no stone unturned when it came to trying on every dress style that exists, but nothing felt right. She visited Dublin Bridal House in Rathfarnham for her second dress shop, as she knew the boutique stocked the Eva Lendel bridal collection, a collection she just so happened to have been mooning over. "I had seen my dress (Rouge) on Pinterest, and it caught my eye, but I felt it wasn’t bridal enough, so I wasn’t even going to try it on. I mentioned this to my friend who came with me shopping, and she told me I had to try it. And from the first try on, I knew that was it."
"We knew we wanted Shane and the groomsmen in black tuxedos for our winter wedding theme. We had done some research online and went with Collar and Cuff as I thought their tuxes were clean and timeless. Shane went with a black velvet jacket, whilst the groomsmen had plain black. All of them looked great."
Shauna had four bridesmaids: her sister, Leah, and three friends, Sophie, Naoise, and Niamh. "I went with black satin dresses from Meshki. I am a big fan of Meshki, so I bought a few styles for them to try on, and we went with two styles in the end. All of the girls looked beautiful."
"I have seen a few humanist wedding ceremonies and always enjoyed them, so we knew we wanted to go with this. We wanted it to feel intimate and comfortable to us. We got married onsite in Clonabreany in their beautiful Orchard Room. Our favourite part of the ceremony was the letter section. We each wrote a letter to each other that we sealed into a box with a bottle of wine, and we will open this on our 5th anniversary. Our celebrant, Shona, recommended this to us and we are so glad she did."
The pair knew that they wanted a winter wedding in Ireland, so Shauna did some research and arranged viewings a few weeks after they got engaged (Talk about proactive!). Since Shane popped the question in September 2023, and the couple wanted to get married in Winter 2024, it was vital to find the right venue as soon as possible. "Clonabreany was the second venue we viewed, and from the minute we drove up to the venue, we both knew it was the one. It was modern, yet it had a cosy, old-fashioned vibe. It had an Irish pub/snug on site for after-hours, the staff were superb, and the reception and main wedding room were gorgeous."
"We had Rachel Griffin sing during our ceremony. For our reception and after-party music, we opted for DJ & Sax, as well as the Event Band to serve as our wedding band. All of them were brilliant, and our guests had a ball."
"We did a first look before we walked down the aisle, and we both felt this was one of our favourite parts of the day. It’s hard to see your partner with all that’s going on around you, but having that 30 minutes to ourselves was really wonderful. We also celebrated the night before in Clonabreany with our bridal party and an intimate group of family. This was the perfect way to kick off the weekend and settle in. We still think our best decision overall was getting married in Clonabreany; we couldn’t fault it even if we tried."
"My worst decision was worrying about small details and other people. It’s so easy to fall into this, and I think sometimes it can’t be helped, but if I could do it all again, I would definitely spend less time stressing over things I can't control."
- Gráinne