Our wedding story: 'He pulled the ring out from behind our pet sheep Dobby’s ear'

[ irishtimes.com/weddings ]

Juls Ormsby was “having a wee nap in the garden one day when Ryan pulled the ring out from behind our pet sheep Dobby’s ear. I laughed for about five minutes and then said yes.”

The couple, who met while working at Belfast Activity Centre, in 2009, and were friends for years before getting together and moving to Australia, in 2012, had planned to go home in early 2015 anyway to meet newborn family members.

Juls’s parents, Ricky and Ann, and grandparents all celebrate their wedding anniversaries on March 24th, so the next generation decided to do the same. “My mum did most of the initial planning. She’s the best,” says Juls.

The Mourne Mountains hold a special place in the couple’s hearts, and they were married at Annesley Hall in Newcastle, Co Down in front of 120 guests. The bonus is that it was beside the ocean, a favourite spot of the bride’s.

Juls’s aunt Trish made the four-tier white chocolate and marshmallow rice crispie cake, and Joy Hanvey, the groom’s sister, is a Limerick-based florist (floralia.ie) who, according to her new sister-in-law, “totally got the wildflower, hippy style we wanted”. Juls found her dress on asos.com. “It was the only one I ever tried on and I was delighted I didn’t have to go to a single wedding dress shop. My shoes were cream crochet Toms – so comfy.”

The brief given to the seven bridesmaids was “woodland fairy (just not full length)”. The bridal party did each other’s hair and make up.

Music during the ceremony came from Juls's friend and bridesmaid, Emma, and another friend. The couple walked into the ceremony to a guitar version of Rather Be by Clean Bandit and that night, at Hugh McCann's Restaurant, The Big Kahuna played to a further 100 guests. "They were awesome. There was some mad dancing going on."

Photographs: Neil Harrison, neilharrisonphotography.com

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