Our First Wedding Anniversary

On the 25th July 2015 we tied the knot. Hardly believing how quickly this year has gone by, we decided to return to our Wedding reception venue and celebrate, just the two of us.

We landed in Dublin from Portugal (more on that soon!) at midnight on Friday and our first wedding anniversary weekend celebration began bright and early the next morning. We caught up with some family and then Himself drove us to our overnight stay, at Powerscourt Hotel Resort and Spa.

Upon arrival we were informed that we had been upgraded, yay! So up to the top of the hotel we went. The seventh floor is home to three suites, The Presidential Suite (where we stayed on our Wedding night) and rooms 701 and 702.

701 is the larger of the two and we were given this one (I don’t know what went on in The Presidential Suite the day before we arrived, but that poor cleaning crew were scrubbing it top to bottom, all.day.long!).

^ Both doors had a doorbell, one to the entrance hall and one to the private kitchen! Unlike the Presidential Suite, with it’s 21 rooms, Suite 701 only has 11…

I know, poor us…!

After exploring our temporary home, I robed up and headed for the hotel spa, ESPA. Having been to ESPA just before our wedding day with my Mom and Sister, it was nice to revisit.

I booked in for the “Sea Salt & Oil Scrub” with a 25mins add-on of “Shoulder, Neck and Back Massage”. After being in Portugal with lots of sand, suncream and those UV rays, my skin was ready for a thorough polish! The woman who looked after me was called Claire and she was a miracle worker!

I floated back to our suite and went for a steam shower…oh I’m sorry…had I not mentioned there was a steam room in our bathroom? Surely I mentioned the Sauna that was also in there? …No?

MY BAD!

Our dinner reservation was for 7:30pm and I decided to give my “Rehearsal Dinner” dress another outing as she hasn’t been worn at all since that night! I also donned my wedding shoes, necklace and tiara….oh yes, I did!

Outfit

Ted Baker Dress (similar)| Shoes Limited Edition, Swarovski Crystal blue (similar) | Joseph Cardigan (similar) | Tiara (bespoke) | Necklace | Earrings (My Mom’s, ruby surrounded by diamonds) 

McGill’s is the hotels Irish Bar and even though the last time I was in there, I was wearing my wedding gown, I still managed to feel VERY overdressed when we arrived for a pre-dinner drink!

When we got to the restaurant, all the staff called me by my married name – the fun of which really hasn’t worn off yet!

Our meal began with a lovely compliment on my tiara (which was met with a severe case of roly-eyes from Himself) and bread. The bread was insanely good – very moreish! The baguette, the seeded brown and the red pepper muffin yolks, were all devoured in minutes!

I mean, just SO good!

Next, we chose the bubbles, I fancied a Rosé, so following the Sommelier’s advice we went for this bad boy

I’d never tried it before, but I loved it and so did Himself (who wouldn’t really be a bubbles drinker in the first place). As we enjoyed our first few sips, we were presented with an amuse bouche of gazpacho in a shot glass. It was very tasty and gone in a trice!

Himself went with their scallops to start which were swimming in corn chowder. OK, so I’ve not really described that well – but it was delicious with a spicy kick to it – I just don’t remember the exact wording!

As for myself, I ordered the “Killeen goat’s cheese, blood orange jelly, marinated beetroot, charred cucumber and sheep sorrel” which arrived looking like a piece of art, almost too good to eat……I said almost!

^ Just look at it!!

For my main course, I had the “sirloin of Hereford prime beef, burnt onion purée, white asparagus, sprouting broccoli, bone marrow and hazelnut crumb” which was cooked to perfection and came with a beautiful gravy

Himself had the “Challans duck breast, caramelised orange purée, poached figs, pistachio, confit leg”, it was so tasty!

In typical Irish fashion, we were both given a side of spuds we hadn’t ordered. They were the creamiest mashed potatoes ever, so nom! I wanted to take the two copper saucepans home but Himself wouldn’t let me.

As we were reminiscing about our favourite moments from the wedding, our desserts arrived. Mine was “Wexford strawberries with macaroon, verbena custard and Llewellyn’s apple balsamic vinegar ice cream”, a real treat for the tastebuds and eyes!

But Himself’s won, “A valrhona chocolate sphere, hazelnut meringue, milk ice cream with warm chocolate sauce”

After the pouring was done, we watched

omnomnomnomnom! It reminded me a lot of the Bob Bob Ricard crowd pleaser

We thought we were done….we thought we couldn’t possibly eat anymore….then our waitress turned up with this

Bless them! It was such a lovely surprise!

…then Pettit Fours arrived…

We were so full, but they were too good not to, so we found room – somehow!

A costume change each later, we were back in McGill’s, feeling a little more appropriately dressed for our surroundings and settled in for some brilliant music from two, very funny and very talented gents.

The bar manager Ian – who makes awesome cocktails – remembered us from the previous year as we’d requested craft beer be available during our wedding’s Champagne reception and he had been the one to organise it for us. He treated us so well all night, but I have no doubt that he makes all his bar guests feel as welcome!

At about midnight we went for a wander down to where our reception had been held. To be honest we couldn’t quite believe there wasn’t a wedding on – a weekend in July?! But the hotels loss was our gain, we had the run of the place and revisited all the rooms…whether we were meant to or not!

We had decided to call it a night due to our early flight. Then, while standing in the bathroom with my pj’s on poised to scrub my face, Himself pipes up from next door “you went out to the chess board that night didn’t you?”, I said “yeah, with a few of the girls”, there was a pause and then he said

“…wanna go out to the chess board?

A THIRD costume change later, we were off to play in the playground and run around on the chess board

Hand on heart and scouts honour, this was already broken when we got there!

I mean….we literally shouldn’t be allowed adult….who let us get married!??!

The next morning, we enjoyed an incredible breakfast buffet (there are no photos because we were too busy eating, sorries!)

Next thing I knew, we were in the air winging our way to London.

Here’s to many more years with my bestfriend!

Rxx