Aimee & Tobi's Wedding

Aimee & Tobis Galgorm Spa & Golf Resort Wedding

The Couple

Tell us a little about how you met

We met back in 2011 through mutual friends in Belfast when he came to spend the weekend and because Tobi lived in England we started travelling back and forth as much as we could.

Talk us through the proposal

The proposal was very chilled it was at home in Dubai. We were just relaxing and Tobi said to me to close my eyes, when I did he placed the ring on my finger! When I opened my eyes I couldn't believe it, it was such a big surprise.

The Setting

Ceremony

The Phantom House

Reception

Four Seasons Suite

Why Galgorm Spa & Golf Resort

We always loved Galgorm. We had stayed in the hotel lots of times before and when we went to view it for the first time as our wedding venue we just knew it was the right choice. As well as it being beautiful the team were great and knew exactly what they were doing and that made us feel comfortable right away.

Tell us the most memorable part of your day

There are so many parts of our day that were memorable, but one that stands out would have to be seeing everything come together and how we had so many guests who had never met before from all over the world come together to enjoy our wedding day with us.

Advice for future couples

My advice would be try not to stress too much before. It's easier said than done I know but the Wedding Planners do such a great job and they really do take care of everything.

Also just enjoy the day, it really is the best day ever!

We also stayed the night after the wedding which was really nice to just chill out and take it all in.

The Dream Team

Galgorm Wedding Planner

Our Wedding Planner was Karen who was absolutely fantastic and had so much patience with us. Even down to the evening before the wedding she was helping with the finishing touches! She was brilliant.

Kerri-anne was in charge with our guests bookings etc. She was also great, we had so many guests staying and nothing was too much trouble for her to arrange.

James was there to oversee the whole day and was just the best. He's amazing at what he does and really took the whole stress out of the day. Not only did he help me and Tobi but all the guests knew his name too. He was great, I really can't speak highly enough of him.

Wedding Stationery

I Do invitations by Karen McShane did all of our stationery. I knew exactly the way I wanted our invites, place cards etc and they were perfect.

Cake

Cake Parlour. Christine was fantastic from when I first met her for our tasting, to the day of. The cake looked and tasted amazing, everybody was talking about it.

We cut our cake in front of all our day time guests but we didn't serve it until evening time. The team brought it out on plates and sat it on the tables after the evening food and it was such a great idea. There's so much food during the day time that it would have been wasted so waiting until the evening worked out better and all the evening guests also got to try it.

Flowers

Designed by Cherry Blossom. Nicola did a great job, I just couldn't decide what I wanted until a few weeks before the wedding when I finally settled and they were gorgeous. Even better than I imagined.

Entertainment

We had music in the Phantom House to begin with; there was flutist, cello, violinist followed by a harpist/singer and then afterwards they also played at the drinks reception.

Our band was 'The Promise' booked through Starling Entertainments. They were great! I heard them the year before the wedding for the first time and they were so different to the regular wedding bands you might hear. They also did DJ for part of the night too, even to now guests still are saying how great they were.

We also had 'Bill on the Sax' from Belfast come and play along with Marc the band's DJ, so it would give an Ibiza feel and it sounded amazing.

As well as this, because Tobi is African it was important for us to have the music all mixed for everyone, so we also brought an African DJ from Dublin. 'Mr Afrobeat Ireland'. it was definitely one of the best decisions we made and then we had a performance from Larry GaGa.

Our entertainment the whole night was amazing. It was even better than we planned and everyone danced the whole night from start to finish. It was one of the main things for us, that the party was going to be the best. Nobody knew there was going to be a saxophone player, nobody knew there was an African DJ coming and for sure nobody knew there was going to be a performance from Larry GaGa. I loved that we were able to keep it a surprise.

Decor & Design

Decor was by Fairytales. We had a flower wall which the cake sat in front of and we also got the ivory table cloth for the cake table which really set it off. We had blossom trees on all the guests tables, they all came with baubles and tea-lights - the room looked absolutely beautiful when we saw it for the first time before any of our guests came in. This was great as we had the chance to take it all in. I couldn't beieve how it looked.

We also had some signs outside the church as well as our post box that my dad actually made for us.

Attention to detail - My mum hired Janine for the morning of the wedding to help get us all ready. Janine was amazing, she's so lovely! We couldn't have done it without her, she got everyone ready that morning; me, the bridesmaids, the flower girls, page boys, my mum. She came straight in and had everything organised, she even followed me to the Phantom House to do the finishing touches making sure my dress and everything was sitting perfect. I can't recommend Janine enough every bride needs her.

Photographer

Kris Dickson. Of course it had to be him! My mum was the one who actually said to me about Kris and when we met him for the first time he was so lovely and welcoming. His work is so impressive.

Videographer

QML Video. Quentin and QJ were great on the day from the moment they arrived the whole way through the day I actually can't remember seeing a video camera in sight. It was never in the way, they just were so great at what they do that you don't even notice where they are. So professional I can't recommend them enough.

Favours

We used the cake as Wedding Favours for those who wanted to take it home although everyone enjoyed it that much there wasn't a lot left which is great.

Theme

I wouldn't say we had a theme but we knew exactly what we liked and how we wanted it to look. We just wanted the whole day to be a good mix of Irish & African.

So we had wee extras like African jollof rice which tasted great, everyone was so impressed. Also, while our guests were being seated for the meal, we went to our room to change and then when we were introduced for the meal everyone got the surprise of us being in traditional African outfits and because nobody expected it, the cheers and clapping were amazing.

The Glad Rags

Wedding Dress & Accessories

The dress was by Badgley Mischka from Castle Couture. Marie took my first appointment and was great. It was the first dress I tried on and I loved it. I did go away and look at others just to be sure, then Mum, my sister and I came back with champagne to Marie to make the purchase shortly after. It was perfect.

My shoes were Valentino

Earrings were from 'The Little Pearl Co.' I saw them on Instagram and really liked them and I think it was 5 days before the wedding when I went for my appointment with Lorna. She was lovely and the ones I saw online were the ones I got.

My sister got me a bracelet as a gift for my something blue. It had a small blue diamond and was from Goldsmiths.

Bridesmaids Dresses

This was actually the first thing I bought for the wedding before my own dress. They were purchased from Quiz online. Earrings were from ASOS and then their hair pieces where made especially for them by 'Beautiful Beads by Ashley' who also made my mums fascinator and flower girls tiaras. Ashley is great at what she does.

Groomswear

Tobi had his suit made in London Regent Street. He had one fitting there and never seen the suit until it was ready two days before the wedding. He designed the suit; the pattern and the colour.