My Wedding Day with James Gabriel Martin: We were lucky to celebrate our wedding pretty much at our home

James Gabriel Martin and his wife Aisling on their wedding day. Pictures: Jacky Galm.

We got married on August 22, 2026. We had the whole wedding in Whitestone House in Naul, Co Dublin.

We live in the Gate Lodge at Whitestone House and the Keogh family allowed us to host our wedding on the grounds here. It’s a 100-acre farm with meadows and fields and woodlands. We were very lucky to be able to have our wedding pretty much at home.

We had a traditional pagan ceremony led by Dara Malloy, who is a former priest but now calls himself a druid. The ceremony was grounded in nature and Celtic and practices.

We had 95 guests on the day, with people flying in from America and elsewhere to celebrate with us.

I’d proposed to Aisling in February 2026, so we really only started planning properly a few months later. Every little detail, down to the place settings, reflected nature, the time of year, and our interests. 

The food that was served, the decoration, the drinks, the music, everything reflected what we wanted to offer to our guests. Sure, it meant extra time and planning and logistics and all those things, but I feel it was worth it in the end.

James and Aisling sharing a pint of Guinness on their wedding day. 

One of the things I remember most was the days before the wedding. We’d rented a beautiful big Scandinavian-style teepee tent. A few days before the event, some of my friends from around the world flew in. Together we all worked to decorate the tent — putting up foliage, picking wildflowers and branches and decorating. 

Being together with the people that we care about and having that time catching up and chatting out in nature was such a special moment.

On the morning of the wedding, it was funny — Aisling and her bridesmaids were getting ready up in the main house and they said every now and then they could see me running back and forth with boxes, or bags of ice. 

I find it very difficult to be hands-off because of my work in events. I was up at 6am cutting the charcuterie meat for the boards. Once I’d done everything I needed to do, I went back to my gate lodge, and I made sausage sandwiches for all my groomsmen.

James and Aisling had a traditional pagan ceremony led by Dara Malloy, who is a former priest but now calls himself a druid. 

We were very lucky with the weather. The ceremony was in an area I would describe as woodland. We had all the seats out, and we were under a big sycamore tree.

During the ceremony, we had a harp player. A friend of mine, Rob Cunningham, also performed a song we both love that he wrote, and my brother and his son (my nephew) sang too.

After the ceremony, we moved towards the front of the house. We did cocktails and canapés outside, and then we went up the house to cut the cake early and did tea and coffee — the cake was demolished in half an hour.

Then we opened up The Shebeen, a little Irish pub on wheels, and people were able to pop in and get a pint of Guinness.

James and Aisling on their wedding day. 

And then it was time for the meal, which was served in the tent, where we had long rustic wooden tables, all the decorations we’d done the days before, and a beautiful flower garland that hung over the bride and groom’s table.

All the colours of the flowers matched the colour palette of the wedding. I wore a dark navy, almost grey/black tweed suit. My best woman, my sister Ellen, wore a rose/brown dress and my groomsmen wore navy.

Aisling’s dress was by Rime Arodaky, bought from Pearl Lane Bridal in Dún Laoghaire. She’d been looking for a silk modern vintage dress, and she said she fell in love with it as soon as she put it on. She also had a Juliet cap veil that was custom-made by Anna O Veils.

The main part of the food was done by a friend of mine, Joe’s Smokehouse. He had his smoke rig beside the tent, which was visually beautiful and really interesting. Guests could smell the food cooking and see it and see the flames of the fire. And then we had Tang come in to do the salads and the sauces that went with it, and they did the canapés as well.

And then I had another local business and friend of mine, La Cocina Cuevas, which is a Mexican food truck up the road. The chef there, Jeremy, made amazing tiramisu trays for us, and then I had meringues from a woman whose business is called the Fluffy Meringue. We wanted to showcase local, seasonal produce and producers.

Our first dance was to White Roses by Flyte. It’s a favourite of ours and marks the time when we first met.

The lasting memory I have is all these worlds colliding, and being able to, from our point of view, having put so much work in, stand back and see what we visualised come together, and know that all your friends and family are gathering together to celebrate love and celebrate you as a couple. It’s a really powerful thing.

• James Gabriel Martin hosts food writing retreats and bespoke seasonal food events, while his wife Aisling facilitates coaching, yoga and guided writing workshops. He and Aisling have a number of international events coming up they are collaborating on. Details can be found at jamesgabrielmartin.com.