My Wedding Day with Emma O'Hagan: It was very much a community event — we bartered for a lot of things!

Emma O'Hagan and her husband Kevin O'Reilly wanted their wedding to be as sustainable as possible, so they made all the decorations themselves

Emma O'Hagan: 'After the ceremony, we had the drinks reception. We had a few alpacas on the day, and people were able to walk with them and have their photos taken with them.'

We got married on September 5, 2025. The year before I was organising a National Trail Conference in Leitrim in Drumhierney Woodland Hideaway. 

During the conference myself and Kevin went for a walk in the woods there, and we said “why don’t we get married here?” We went to the receptionist and asked could we get married there and they said they were thinking of turning themselves into a wedding venue in the future.

When they asked when would we be looking to get married, we said, “This day next year?”. The place was free, so we booked it.

In a way, we were kind of the guinea pigs of their wedding venue business. Ours was the first wedding there. 

CLIMATE & SUSTAINABILITY HUB

We’d always been thinking of having a kind of festival-themed wedding, and this worked out even better than what we could imagined. It’s a beautiful destination.

We wanted our wedding to be as sustainable as possible, so we made all the decorations ourselves. Kevin made the arch for the ceremony. He collected willow from the field next to our house. 

All throughout the summer, we collected flowers from the fields around us and we dried them in our sauna, and the fresh flowers were all from our garden. We did as much of it as possible by ourselves.

And we bartered for things too and got favours or gifts from friends. We're very lucky that our friends are a great mix of really talented people. My friend Gavin McGoldrick is an amazing photographer, and he was really excited to do the photography. 

Then my cousin Claire had just set up her own business doing massive cheese boards and grazing tables, so we had those for the drinks reception. My aunt is part of a samba band and she brought the whole band with her for the day.

Emma O'Hagan: 'Kevin and myself had agreed that we’d meet before the wedding at our favourite place by a lake in Glenade. We thought it would be a good way to calm the nerves.'

The list is actually endless. When I start thinking back on it, it's crazy. Like we had a fire dancer who was a friend I met through hiking. When people were asking us what they could get us as wedding gift, we said “what do you do?” and so many of them ended up being part of our day. It was very much a community event!

As well as being sustainable with the decorations we wanted to wear pre-loved outfits too. Kevin found his suit in a charity shop. It was a beautiful tweed suit that cost maybe €30. Now he did have to get it modified to fit him, but it was lovely.

And then for my dress, I had a particular idea of what I wanted in my head and I couldn’t find that in any pre-loved bridal boutique, so I ended up buying a dress off the rack in Wed2Be in Dublin, and then I customised it myself, including fabric from my mom’s wedding dress and some embroidery on the bottom hem. I was really happy with it. I also wore a flower crown on the day, which I made myself too, and it was beautiful.

On the morning of the wedding I was absolutely buzzing. I was ready by 11am and the wedding wasn’t until 3pm. Kevin and myself had agreed that we’d meet before the wedding at our favourite place by a lake in Glenade. We thought it would be a good way to calm the nerves. Now I wasn’t nervous at all as it happened, but Kevin was so nervous. I later found out that it was because he had plans to read a poem he wrote for me at the ceremony, and he was very nervous about that.

Emma O'Hagan: 'Kevin was so nervous. I later found out that it was because he had plans to read a poem he wrote for me at the ceremony, and he was very nervous about that.'

We had a humanist ceremony outside among the trees in Drumhierney. Our arch was between two large oak trees. We were very much able to make the ceremony our own and reflect us; we wrote our own vows, and Kevin recited his poem, and it was all so unique to us.

After the ceremony, we had the drinks reception. We had a few alpacas on the day, and people were able to walk with them and have their photos taken with them. Then we went inside for the food, which was buffet-style tapas from Two Taps Catering from Belfast. We had no seating plan, so people were able to just grab their food and sit wherever they wanted.

After the meal, we started with a céilí, then we followed that with the samba band, and then the fire dancer. There were things happening all throughout the day. I remember one of my aunts saying to me that she was afraid to go to the toilet in case she missed something!

Later we went into the barn for the DJ and more dancing. It was a late enough night - around 3am. Some may have stayed up later, but myself and Kevin hit the leaba because we wanted to feel fresh for day two, which we were starting with a cold water swim!

My favourite memory of the day was seeing my grandmother when I was walking down the aisle. She’d been ill in the run-up to the wedding and we weren’t sure if she would make it, but she did, and she looked so beautiful and to have her there was so special.

• Emma O’Hagan, an outdoor adventure group host and @emmas_footprints on Instagram, is currently doing a cold water dip each day in aid of North West STOP, which offers free counselling to those that need it.