Shirley & Robert’sWedding in Malta

With Renowned Wedding Planner Sarah Young

146 I IWD Feature I Weddings Abroad

Robert and I fi rst met ten years ago

through mutual friends and fell in love.

In December 2013 Robert and I travelled

to New York for a fi ve day holiday and some

Christmas shopping. We had an amazing fi rst

day, shopping and lots of site seeing. After a

great fi rst day at the Statue of Liberty, Empire

State,Times Square etc, we decided on having

a quiet night. Robert suggested we head to

Central Park for some ice skating. I had been

to Central Park as a teenager and instantly fell

in love. Id always described it to everyone as

my most favourite place in the world. When

we arrived at the park, we decided on taking

a horse and carriage ride around the park. It

was so lovely all wrapped up in a big fl uffy

blanket in the carriage against the cold and

the park looked so beautiful all lit up with the

Christmas lights! However Robert had become

so quiet, I thought maybe he wasn’t enjoying

himself but little did I know he was about to

pop the question! I instantly froze when he

asked me to marry him, then cried my eyes out

ha ha. Here was the love of my life down on

one knee in the middle of Central Park in New

York holding a little ring box! It all seemed so

surreal. Finally through the tears I managed to

say YES! However when he popped open the

little box it was empty. He told me he wanted

to take me and buy me a ring that I loved in

the place I loved most in the world New York!

With the time difference we had to wait a

couple of hours to phone back home to Ireland

to share the news with everyone, however my

dad already knew as Robert had asked my dads

permission to marry me the week previous.

The next morning we got up bright and early

and Robert took me down fi fth avenue and

bought me the most amazing ring that I have

ever seen. The ring of my dreams.

After a lot of thought and consideration we

decided that a wedding abroad was defi nitely

sounding most appealing to us both. We

wanted something a little different than a

wedding in Ireland plus we both love holidays

and travelling so it seemed liked the perfect

option.

On researching online Malta seemed very

appealing to us both. The beautiful scenery and

amazing weather defi nitely factored in us in

making the decision to travel to Malta in March

2014 to check out some possible wedding

venues and churches. I knew this would be

extremely hard to do without the help of a

professional to show me everything that I need

to see. That’s when I found Sarah. I’d seen

numerous spreads in all the top Irish bridal

magazines about Sarah Young wedding planner

Malta and raving reviews. I instantly knew this

is the wedding planner I want. So we travelled

to Malta to meet with Sarah and her team.

From the moment I met Sarah I knew she was

gonna make our wedding amazing. After taking

us to numerous venues and churches we picked

a fantastic little castle in the village of Mgarr.

We both instantly fell in love the minute we

stepped through the door.it was breathtaking.

We could hold our wedding indoors or outside

in the fantastic courtyard under all the trees and

fairy lights as we had full exclusive use of the

venue for the day. From that day on we never

looked back. Sarah and her team of amazing

ladies organised absolutely everything for us.

We decided on the 27th May 2015 for our big

day. A year and a half away. From that day on

the communication between myself and Sarah

was just fantastic. Daily emails and updates on

all the plans. She literally did everything for me.

I would send her any ideas or worries I had and

they would instantly be actioned or rectifi ed.

Now all I had to do was fi nd the dress

I’d always imagined I’d pick a fi gure hugging

dress for the big day but the more consideration

I gave it the more I decided that I wanted to be a

Here was the love of my life down on one knee in the middle of Central

Park in New York holding a little ring box

From the moment I met Sarah I knew she was

gonna make our wedding amazing

Weddings Abroad I IWD Feature I 147

princess for a day. So I decided on

the fairytale style dress. I travelled

to Galway where I tried on only 3 dresses and

instantly knew my dress was “The ONE” I fell

in love. Now that I found my dress it was time

to fi nd THE SHOES. I had always dreamed

of wearing Christian Louboutin shoes for my

wedding day so without hesitation I just had

to buy them. They are the most amazing shoes

I have ever seen and defi nitely completed the

princess look I was going for on the big day.

Robert and his groomsmen where styled from

top to toe in Guy Clothing Tullamore. We

wanted a certain style and colour of suit and

Guy Clothing certainly delivered. They were

so helpful and styled the boys to perfection.

They all looked fantastic on the day. Blue suits

with tan shoes. Perfect for a wedding in the

sunshine.

We had 40 guests at our wedding , family and

close friends. We all travelled to Malta together

four days before the wedding. We stayed in the

most amazing fi ve star hotel. It was heaven.

Amazing views, three pools, spa, fi ve star all

the way. Sarah and her team dealt with all

the bookings for all my guests in the hotel

so literally all my guests had to do was book

their fl ights. It was so stress free and relaxing

for everyone so we really just got to enjoy

ourselves together in the run up to the big day.

I expressed to Sarah that I would love to take

all my family and friends away for a day trip

to explore Malta. She organised

a luxury air conditioned coach

and tour guide to pick us from

the hotel two days before the

wedding and took us all around

the island to neighbouring villages. Valletta and

Mdina the silent city. Family and friends had a

fantastic day and absolutely loved the island. A

great day was had by all.

The day of the wedding.

We can only describe the day of our wedding

as the most stress free , relaxed experience of

our lives. Everything went just perfect without

a hitch. Sarah had organised all my guests hair

and makeup appointments so I literally had no

stress that day whatsoever.

The excitement was fantastic that day and a

day we will both never forget.

Just as I was about to leave for the church

Robert send his best man to my hotel room

with the most amazing gift a beautiful Tiffanys

bracelet and Tiffanys earrings to wear on the

day. I bought him an Armani watch. Which he

also wore.

We married in Mgarr parish church followed by

our reception in a unique castello.

We only describe the day as been the most

amazing experience of our lives. Everything

was just perfect. Sarah and her team made sure

everything was exactly as we had requested.

Flowers, the food, the cake ,

everything.

We

can not thank her enough for all her hard work.

Still to this day I miss all our emails because

when you have Sarah as your wedding planner

you form friendship with her. She truly is an

amazing planner. Everything we ever wanted

she made come through. Her professionalism

was very evident to see on the day as

everything was just perfect. My family and

friends were so impressed with Malta that they

are already planning return trips to the island

for next summer. Robert and I also plan to

return in the future to celebrate anniversaries.

After what can only be described as the best

week of our lives with our amazing family and

friends we can not thank them all enough for

travelling all the way to Malta and making it

so special. It was the best decision we ever

made to marry abroad and something we will

never forget.

The day after we returned from Malta we

headed off on a two week honeymoon to

New York and Las Vegas. We had a fantastic

time and have a romantic trip Paris planned

at Christmas.

148 I IWD Feature I Weddings Abroad