A majestic Irish castle wedding with death metal & sword-bearing protectors

Victoria and Craig combined the forces of Medieval and gothic imagery, death metal, and pure romance at their Irish castle wedding. Think swords, red roses, drinking horns, and the most epic castle backdrop of Cloghan Castle in Loughrea, Ireland. Keep scrolling to see the whole wedding and some tidbits from the couple…

We both love castles and Irish history, and Craig wanted to have a death metal band play, so we found somewhere where that was possible, and arranged everything around that. We also wanted somewhere we could stay for a day or two after the ceremony to recover.

We absolutely loved Cloghan Castle when we found it, and it ticked all our boxes. We decided to get legally married in the registry office with just our close family a few weeks before, and had a handfasting ceremony performed by one of our friends on our wedding day. We wrote the ceremony and our vows ourselves, which made it really personal.

We didn’t have a specific theme, but the castle definitely inspired some elements of our wedding. I had bought Craig a replica sword from Lord of the Rings as an engagement present, as we had a running joke that if I got a nice ring he should get something too. I got my own sword when we visited the Leeds Armory Museum last year. We decided to include these in the day as there is a Viking tradition to exchange swords at your wedding as a promise to protect each other. Also, the expression “Best Man” originally meant your best swordsman, who would protect you from attackers on the day. So our Best Man and Maid of Honour carried our swords for the day, and did an excellent job protecting us.

The highlight of the day for me was the ceremony, which had been the thing I had thought about the least, but ended up enjoying the most. It was beautiful, and personal, and so lovely to have everyone there for it.

For Craig, it was the huge effort that all our family and friends put in to our day for us, which was amazing because they did so much.

Vendors

Photography: MrsRedhead Photography • Second shooter: Aleksandra Skibniewska • Wedding Venue: Cloghan Castle • Wedding Dress: the bride's mum made all the dresses and her hat • Shoes: From Pleaser USA, customised by Edel of Eden Art Tattoo • Suits: Hugo Boss and Marks & Spencer • Bride's engagement ring: custom made by Abana Jewellers • Makeup & Hair: Sara of Cosmaddict • Music: Overoth, a Belfast Death Metal Band, and Craig’s band also played a few songs

Gallery

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