Jade and Will's Minimal and Modern Monochrome Wedding With Dusky Blue Hues at Brickhouse Vineyard

Mr + Mrs O’Neill

Wedding Date: 24 July 2021 | Brickhouse Vineyard | Guests: 35

Instagram: @jadeelizaoneill @paperbelles | Photos: Emma Barrow Photography

Jade and Will had a sleek modern wedding theme with monochrome colours and hints of blue. The beautiful bride wore a stunning simple satin dress by Hera Couture and her groom wore a classic black tux. Despite a stressful time planning during the pandemic, their day was perfect with the sun shining and we just love the attention to detail. Jade tells us all about their wedding, including the cheese and wine tasting drinks reception and a bouncy castle...

Something Old: an Irish sixpence from my uncle

Something New: My pearl earrings and hair piece from Tilly Thomas lux in an old Hollywood style. My sister also got me a Frozen charm which was very meaningful saying ‘Sisters always find a way’ on the back.

Something Borrowed: an Irish pin for my bouquet with a silver harp and shamrock. I will hand down to our children when we have them.

Something Blue: Bridesmaid dresses, car, theme, flowers

Tell us all about your wedding theme...

Black, white, dusty blue and natural greens (in flowers). We wanted a classic elegant old Hollywood feel with black tux etc but also with modern elements. Blue is my fav colour and lucky for brides in Irish culture (my husband is Irish so it was fitting). We wanted a fun informal day that also had little meaningful touches and Irish elements to reflect me marrying into an Irish family.

How cool does Jade look with our Bride Straw? Click here to shop!

Funniest moment: The night before the wedding I was doing a pamper session with my bridesmaids and an absolutely massive spider ran across the floor sending us all into hysterics. The spider ran up the trail of my wedding dress and in our panic one of my bridesmaids (worried it was going to ruin my dress) smacked it across the room. We laughed all night about it and it definitely livened up the evening haha. The next day I was told that apparently finding a spider on your dress is supposed to be lucky and lead to a long marriage.

Bridal Entrance: After Rain – Dermot Kennedy

Bridal Exit: Tenerife Sea – Ed Sheeran

First Dance: Outnumbered – Dermot Kennedy (lyrics are so personal to us)

What was the most emotional moment of the day? 

Seeing Will for the first time and walking down the aisle.

Tell us about the ceremony...

We didn’t want the traditional ceremony so we had our ‘legal ceremony’ at the registry office 2 days before. This meant we had a really personal ceremony on the day with music, our story, handfasting (incorporating Irish culture) and a ring warming ceremony – where guests hold the ring for a moment and give their blessing.

Best wedding splurge: We really wanted a neon sign as part of the décor that was something a bit different. To continue the Irish theme, we had a custom sign made with ‘Gra go deo’ which means forever love in Gaelic. Even though it was expensive, we will use it in our house to remind us forever.

Tell us all about the dress...

When starting the dress shopping experience, I thought I’d end up with something very vintage boho, straight and beaded. But I ended up with something very modern, minimal and classic. A big surprise – but it was definitely ‘the one’ so I had to change the whole wedding theme to suit – haha.

What was your wedding budget – and did you stick to it? 

£20,000. No haha. When people say add 10% on to your budget they are so right. Especially during pandemic times.

Did you have have anything unusual at your wedding?  

We opted for something a bit different than the usual drinks and canapes. As we were getting married at a working vineyard so we had a mini wine and cheese tasting session instead which was really fun for our guests. We also had a bouncy castle – for the kids of course *cough cough*!

Did you have wedding favours?

We decided to opt out of wedding favours and donated to the NSPCC instead on behalf of our guests – a charity close to our hearts. We got a pin badge to give guests and I made little boxes to put them in with our personalized wax seal stamp to match our stationery.

Did you make any DIYs? 

I run a wedding stationery business @paperbelles so I made all the wedding invitations and on the day stationery from menus to the table plan and favours. My husband made the copper sign stands for me too.

Advice for future brides… 

Take a moment for just you and your new husband. The day is very overwhelming and busy so just take at least 10 minutes away just to reflect and enjoy your time together. It rained in the evening of our wedding and we had a red ‘harvest moon’ so we sat outside under the marquee at night and watched the rain come down over the grape vines and the beautiful moon. The Moon has always been very significant to us. Such a special moment I’ll never forget. 

What was your favourite part of the day? 

All of it!

Worst wedding planning moment: Planning a wedding during covid times with most of Will’s family not being able to travel from Ireland due to restrictions. Also, we were in the height of the ‘pingdemic’ so had suppliers needing to cancel with 4 days to go – very stressful but we enjoyed the day and that’s all that matters in the end. You have to keep reminding yourself that it’s all meant to be.

Tell us about your honeymoon...

We are waiting to have our honeymoon next year when travel gets a bit easier with the covid rules but we decided to have a little mini moon to celebrate and I am so glad we did. We had a few days at the lovely Boringdon Hall near Plymouth. It was so nice to have just ‘us’ time after all the whirlwind and it helped with the initial wedding blues to have something to look forward to.

Photographer: Emma Barrow Photography

Videographer: Devon Wedding Films

Venue: Brickhouse Vineyard

Stationery: Paperbelles (the bride's own business)

Flowers: Emma Hewlett Floral

Cake: Little Buttercup Cakery

Décor: DIY

MUA: Kate Devon MUA

Hair: Jessica Faye Bridal Hair

Dress: Hera Couture from Lovely Bridal Honiton

Shoes: ASOS

Bridesmaids dresses:  ASOS

Flower girl dresses: Next

Suits: Moss Bros

Wedding Rings: 77 Diamonds

Celebrant:  Fan – Fanfare Ceremonies

Band/DJ: Ocean Rain

Bouncy Castle: Exeter Bouncy Castles

Car: Dream American Wedding Cars

Bride getting ready venue: Exeter Castle Airbnb

Groom getting ready venue: Hotel Du Vin Exeter

Caterer: M Welsh Catering

Bridal Accessories: Tilly Thomas Lux

From Brides, With Love xo