Meet Justin and Katriona

Weddings are such a special day. We recently chatted with Katriona who told us all about her wedding to Justin.

How did you meet and what is the story of your engagement?

Justin and I met in 2016 when I was working in The Oliver Plunkett and he and his band would gig there every Friday. We became good friends before we started dating. We got engaged in July 2023 in Ravello on the Amalfi Coast in Italy. Justin took me there for my 30th birthday and proposed to me at Villa Cimbrone which is the Garden of Infinity.

What was your wedding theme or style and how did you choose it?

We decided to get married at the end of November just coming into the Christmas season because I absolutely love Christmas. I have always wanted a Christmas themed wedding.

What were the most important elements you wanted to include in your wedding?

Music! Music has always been a big part of mine and Justin’s relationship. As well as that, all our friends are incredibly talented musicians, so it was amazing that Kinsale Hotel and Spa accommodated our request to have full bands perform throughout the day. It was incredible and one of the most memorable elements of our day.

Why did you choose Kinsale Hotel and Spa as your wedding venue?

We chose Kinsale Hotel and Spa for a couple of different reasons. We had previously been to a wedding there and the setting is just beautiful! An important element for us when choosing a venue was to ensure there was enough space for our guests to be able to spend a night or two to completely relax and enjoy their time.

Justin and I also spend a lot of time in Kinsale, it’s one of our favourite places to go with the dog and our family and it really holds a special place in our hearts.

Another big selling point for us when booking Kinsale Hotel and Spa was Karolina. She is the most incredible lady. She genuinely cares about her wedding couples and puts everything into helping and ensuring everything runs smoothly. I’m so glad we met her and are delighted that we can now call her a friend.

What was your overall vision for the wedding, and how did Kinsale Hotel and Spa help bring it to life?

I have always wanted to get married at Christmas time and the hotel ensured that they had all their decorations up in time for our wedding. It really added to the overall theme and I couldn’t have asked for a more perfect setting.

Can you describe a memorable moment from your wedding day that took place at the hotel?

As we had our whole wedding in the hotel, I feel like I have loads of memorable moments. Our ceremony is a real stand out. The room was decorated beautifully, we had a full band, three different singers, readings from loved ones, involvement from all our families, it was incredible. The hotel was so accommodating allowing us to have our little dog Murphy be our ring bearer. He was a real star of the show.

What personal touches did you incorporate into your wedding?

We had our friends perform our music at our ceremony. Our friend Mary Jo Ryan sang my bridesmaids up the aisle to Feels Like Home by Chantal Kreviazuk and sang our final song as Justin and I walked out as husband and wife to Simply The Best by Tina Turner. My bridesmaid Lauren Cahalane sang me up the aisle to Songbird by Fleetwood Mac, that is such a beautiful memory. A member of my family - Majella Cullagh, sang two beautiful opera songs during our ceremony.

She performed One Hand, One Heart from West Side Story during our sand ceremony and she performed The Prayer by Céline Dion and Andrea Bocelli as we were signing the register.

Justin’s daughter Layla is 13 and she was one of my bridesmaids. It was really important to us to incorporate her into the day as much as possible so during our ceremony we gifted her a necklace with the same stone as my engagement ring.

What was your favourite part of the ceremony and reception?

One of our favourite parts of our ceremony was having so many of our friends and family involved. We included our parents by asking our mums to do readings of their own choosing and we included all of our parents in a sand ceremony using sand from three of our favourite beaches.

We were able to include more family members in our ceremony during the hand fasting. Our favourite part of the drinks reception was having a full band perform.

We love music and wanted to get the party started early and the hotel was so accommodating allowing us to do that. We also decided to keep things casual by having our speeches at our drinks reception and they went down a treat.