Untraditional, quirky, fun, and so joyful! Catherine and Chris don't consider themselves as being very traditional or formal and they crafted an utterly fabulous alternative wedding celebration that was uniquely theirs. They tied the knot in an immensely intimate ceremony at Belfast City Hall in June. Then they followed up their ceremony with celebrations at the end of September with one at Ambledown Cottage in Monaghan with 70 of their loved ones before an epic party at the Empire Music Hall in Belfast with 140 guests. With Jude Browne Photography behind the camera, sensational sustainable bridal style, great music, fabulous food, vintage-style touches, and tonnes of dancing were the order of the hour for both parties. Enjoy!

Catherine and Chris are from Tyrone and they met as teenagers on a night out in Omagh when they were 16 and 17. Catherine tells us, "We talked and danced all night, at the very end, Chris said he hadn't brought his phone out, I thought it was the brush off but he found me on Bebo (RIP) the next day! He had to hunt through people in common to find me as I didn't even have my real name on Bebo! After two weeks he asked me to be his girlfriend and Bebo other half over MSN (RIP) and that was us ever since!"

Fast forward to their proposal and they had arranged to go to the Burren in Co. Clare for a post-Christmas getaway which is somewhere they both adore and always love to visit. "We had a gorgeous meal and cocktails in Ballyvaughan the night we arrived but the next day Chris woke up feeling unwell. I nipped to the pharmacy 20 minutes away and got him supplies and left him to rest up and went for a spin and shopping had a great day..! I was completely oblivious that this had been a spanner in his plans!"

"I came back in the afternoon and he was feeling much better, so we went to a beach we love for a walk and when it was quiet he proposed! Which was perfect as we are quite private and we kept it to ourselves for the rest of holiday apart from telling our folks! The next day we did a morning dip and bubbles on the beach and we went to stay and celebrate at Ashford Castle, which was something special!"

Reflecting on the vibe of their wedding celebrations Catherine highlights, "As we aren't very formal people, we didn't have any formalities that you would see on wedding days or even the structure you'd see on normal days at the parties! We always knew we wanted to have ceremony as just us and had our families support us over this and everything else we planned, which was so lovely."

Their wedding ceremony in June was intimate and short with five friends in attendance and they were sitting in a bar within the hour! They then celebrated with all their loved ones with two wedding parties at the end of September.

The bride served up stunning sustainable style. "I sourced two second-hand dresses from Vinted. One was a dress that had been worn by three women in a family, there was no one left to wear it and it had one more day out!"

They held their first wedding party at the charming pizza restaurant Ambledown Cottage in Glaslough. "Ambledown always was somewhere we loved, as it felt so like being in someone's house having a big gathering/catch up and we loved their food and that it was BYOB!"

"That morning, we had friends and some family come to house and we all had breakfast and tea together even with Jude, Sarah and Nadine. We wanted it to be relaxing for them as much as me and was perfect that way!" The couple's beloved cat Alfie was the most pawfect VIP guest too.

The theme for both fetes was all about fun, colour and sweet personal details.

They wanted their celebration to have a fun atmosphere and to be all about the important people in their lives being there, so that's why they broke their wedding into two parts. "We have never been traditional and loved Ambledown but knew it didn't hold numbers for everyone we wanted to invite. So we came up with idea of two parties, both in good central places for important people in our lives: family and friends. As that's what mattered most to us when came to planning."

Catherine sourced her lace and frothy tulle dress from the vintage style emporium Dirty Fabulous in Co. Monaghan.

The bride had a stunning surprise up her sleeve as she dyed her hair auburn for the next party. "I had a completely different style and look for the party at Empire and loved being able to surprise people when walked in (though i don't think anyone was really surprised that i did something like that)."

Mismatched bridesmaids dresses are probably one of the most enduring trends in weddings and her leading ladies wore satin navy midis with different necklines.

The live music venue Empire in Belfast worked perfectly for their part two. "We definitely wanted it feel more like a big night out/party/gathering and stripped it back to good food, music, drinks and dancing. We wanted to cut out the fuss and stress and thankfully, despite being unorganised people, with help from venues and friends, we pulled it off!"

They wanted their bridesmaids and groomsmen to be as comfortable as possible as they celebrated so they chose their own outfits.

We are so in love with Catherine's bridal look with pretty pearls underpinning the accessories from her bag to her gorgeous veil.

What an entrance! "We really value memories, so Jude was amazing at taking lots of photos of us and also our guests which was important to us!"

Even the wedding speeches their guests gave were a surprise! "We didn't ask anyone to give any to avoid putting people under stress, so that was so lovely."

Their fabulous fete included an audio guestbook and a sugar flower tiered wedding cake.

We adore their alternative photo booth complete with neon signage and they also asked their bridesmaids to take polaroids for wedding favours for their guests.

Their top wedding tip would be, "If you can decide what's important/non-negotiable things, every thing else is either fuss, noise or bonuses and you can decide to add it on but just to keep it personal to what's important to you as a couple, and you'll have no regrets!"

To dance the night away Catherine changed into a tiered tulle mini dress from Anthropologie which she bought on sale in New York. The total for all five of her bridal looks was under £500.

Another absolutely magical moment came as they shared their first dance to Garden Rules by Snow Patrol. "We don't have much music in common, but Snow Patrol is something we do and they were our first concert together!"

Catherine and Chris we were absolutely bowled over by your fabulously unique two-part wedding. A very special thank you to our lovely couple and Jude Browne Photography for letting us experience all the magic.