Ronja and Alex left Germany to marry in Ireland with just four guests and their baby son. They wanted intimacy, atmosphere and no distractions. Ireland mattered to them. Alex had lived in Dublin as a child, and the couple felt drawn to marry there.

They chose Muckross Abbey for their symbolic ceremony. The ruins set the tone for their moody theme. Afterwards they signed the legal paperwork and had an intimate candlelit dinner at a hotel across the road. “Play by your own rules, it’s your wedding,” they said. “We decided to break with tradition and do the exact opposite of getting married in white – we chose to get married in black!”

The ceremony was soundtracked by Valhalla Calling by Miracle of Sound played through a Bluetooth speaker. Ronja walked down the aisle with her brother and the couple exchanged unplanned vows, spoken in the moment.

The couple planned their day quickly, in just a few months, and did make some compromises by having a few family members there. They admitted they wish they’d stuck to their original plan of marrying with just the two of them and their son. “In the beginning, we wanted to get married alone, but since our parents and siblings were disappointed, we decided to include them”, Ronja said. “In the end, we were seven: the three of us, Alex’s parents, and Ronja’s mum and brother. To be honest, though, we should have stuck to our original plan and done it the way we truly wanted.”

“We also should have started the planning a month or two earlier. This would have saved us a lot of stress with the Irish authorities. We didn’t realise that the paperwork has to be submitted at least three months before the wedding day in Ireland. Since we started the planning process a bit later, we had to obtain an exemption from the court. Lena, our wedding planner, guided us through the process and continually reassured us that this is only a formality, but for us – doing it for the first time – the uncertainty of whether we would get the exemption or not was by far the most stressful part.”

Therefore their advice to other couples is pretty obvious: hire a planner if you’re marrying abroad, and don’t do things to please others! “Nothing is impossible,” the bride concluded. “There is always a solution for everything. You just have to look for it. With our wedding planner guiding us through the entire process, everything felt effortless. From the very beginning, she was completely honest, which meant there were no bad surprises along the way. We found this especially important when it came to budgeting – many couples don’t know what to expect, but Lena was clear about where costs would arise and where we could potentially save, based on her experience. She and her team also made sure the vendors they recommended truly understood our vision and were the right fit for us. We believe that’s such a vital part of planning, finding vendors who really align with you as a couple and your wishes.”