My Wedding Day: Arthur Gourounlian — 'I was a bridezilla, but our wedding was just incredible'

I remember talking in Brian's ear saying ‘why are you doing this to me?’. He was walking on my feet, but I think he was just nervous, you know. But it was a lovely, gentle, cute dance.

Brian Dowling and Arthur Gourounlian on their wedding day in Powerscourt.

We got married on July 29, 2015, so it’s 10 years this year. If you had told me 10 years ago that we would have done all we’ve done — moved to Ireland, had two children: It’s bizarre. People say that marriage is hard work, but it’s the best thing we’ve done. We were on and off for years, but marriage has brought us closer.

We got engaged in the Dominican Republic in 2014. It took me two or three years to ask Brian. He was waiting for me to say, ‘Marry me’. By the time we got engaged, we didn’t want to wait any longer, and then the [same-sex marriage] referendum was on and we were like, ‘Oh, my god, what are the chances?’ It was just meant to be!

Brian Dowling and Arthur Gourounlian on their wedding day in Powerscourt.

We had someone helping us from Powerscourt and a party planner, but, obviously, OK, I’m a freak. I’ve been organising shows all my life. I knew exactly what I wanted: Vision wise, I had everything down. I’ll never forget the wedding day, coming down in the morning to where the ceremony was going to happen, and the chairs were not how I wanted them to be and I was like, ‘No guys, this isn’t right’. I was a bridezilla! I rearranged all the chairs the way I wanted them. It was beautiful; like everyone was sitting around a fire. So I had people, but I was running around on the day: I couldn’t let it go!

We had about 220 people with us on the day: 20 from my side and about 200 from Brian’s side. It wasn’t big or small: It was perfect. I didn’t want a videographer, and even the photos were so quick: Look left, then right, and then party. We just wanted to enjoy the moment and we had friends and family from all over the world — Dubai, America, Europe, London.

We were blessed with the weather. We had been panicking a couple of days before, because it was raining, and the party planner said to me, ‘We might need to put a marquee up’, and I went in to madness a little bit. It would have looked horrendous! So I literally prayed for a beautiful day, and when we walked down the aisle that day and the quartet was playing, it was so beautiful.

Arthur Gourounlian with his mam on his wedding day in Powerscourt.

My mom walked me down the aisle first and then Rosie walked Brian down the aisle. It was perfect, and the ceremony wasn’t too long and it was very emotional. I remember my mom crying, and Brian thought it was because she’d lost a son, but, no, she was crying because from where we came from, to be sitting there watching her son getting married in Powerscourt, it was like a mirage. And now, Rosie, Brian’s mom isn’t with us anymore, but we’re so glad she got to experience that moment: It was magical.

One thing about the ceremony that stands out was when Brian put the ring on my finger. I thought: That’s it, I can’t wear all my rings anymore on this hand. I am obsessed with rings, obsessed. And when he put the ring on, I said to him, ‘You are ruining my passion!’. So now, on my left hand, I just have my wedding ring and two other silver rings and I never change them. We wore Tom Ford suits. And when you see the pictures, you’ll see the big, wild red flowers we had in the buttonhole.

I can’t remember the name of that flower, but they were expensive. All the other wedding flowers on the day were hydrangeas. We have hydrangeas everywhere in Armenia. They are the flowers I remember growing up back in the day; they’re so popular. So we had them everywhere, and it was so simple, but so effective.

For our first dance, we had ‘Like the Sun’, by RyanDan, and it was a lovely, slow dance, even though Brian couldn’t dance: He has two left feet! I remember talking in his ear, saying, ‘Why are you doing this to me?’ He was walking on my feet, but I think he was just nervous, you know. But it was a lovely, gentle, cute dance.

And then we just all started dancing. We had a band and a DJ, and we also had Claire, from Steps, who sang all the Steps songs for us on the stage. It was perfect. We really wanted people to enjoy themselves. We didn’t want to put pressure on people to do this or that; just enjoy and do whatever you want. Everything we did was about the comfort of our guests.

The evening was a blur. There was so much happening. One minute we were eating, the next we were cutting the cake, and then we were talking to people and dancing; it was like a complete blur; it all happened so fast.

We were having so much fun. And our guests were loving it; they didn’t care how sweaty they were, they didn’t care how tipsy they were. I was like, ‘Nobody’s judging here, you’re in a safe environment’ and it was just incredible. That’s what party and celebration are all about.

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