Our Wedding Story: We met in a launderette

[ irishtimes.com/weddings ]

Rebecca (33), a physiotherapist from Naul, Co. Dublin, and chef Aurèlien (34), from Gauville, France, first said hello in 2011 in a launderette in Manly, Australia, where they were living in the same block.

Within two weeks they had moved in together and six months later when Rebecca returned to Ireland, Aurèlien followed her to a country he had never been to before.

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They got engaged in Budapest in 2014, and were married outdoors in humanist ceremony on May 8th, 2015, at Rosleague Manor Hotel in Letterfrack, Connemara.

“I can’t praise Rosleague enough,” said Rebecca, “We were able to get married outside with the reassurance of a great plan B should it have rained.”

Rebecca wanted a short 1950s-style dress and, thanks to a concentrated internet trawl by her mother Genevieve, found London-based Russian designer, House of Mooshki. She travelled to Marie Me Bridal in Randalstown, Co Antrim with one dress in mind and bought it immediately.

The bridesmaids were Rebecca’s younger sisters Alexandra and Sophie and she was given away by her brother Ross. Aurèlien sought sartorial advice from Ross who took him to B Lynch and Sons on Dublin’s Camden Street for his suit. Best man was his friend Roland Pfohl. Rebecca’s godmother Marie-Louise Martin is an artist and designed placenames and table names.

The couple decided against a formal first wedding dance but French guests started dancing immediately after the ceremony so their first dance, unplanned and before 5pm, was to Cecilia by Simon & Garfunkel.

They described Galway-based DJ Will Softly as “incredible and a highlight of the whole day” for keeping the dance-floor full. Rebecca can’t pinpoint a single favourite part of the day but said, “the moment before I walked down the aisle with my whole family, giggling and laughing like children is a very special memory.”

Both agree that, “walking into the dining room as husband and wife with everyone standing up, screaming, whistling was overwhelming. There are no words to describe how that made us feel.”

They chose Thailand for their honeymoon, backpacking on cramped minivans and overnight trains, with a little bit of luxury at the end.

Photographs: Jenny Matthews Photography, jennymatthewsphotography.com

We’d love to hear your wedding story. If you’d like to share it with our readers email weddings@irishtimes.com with a photograph and a little information about your big day