Fitness Trainer Lewine O’Connell married Lecturer Brendan Egan in an old villa in Tuscany, Italy this year

 

The Meeting

We met in 2006 while Brendan was completing his doctorate at DCU. I had friends studying there at the time, and after a number of fateful circumstances, our paths crossed. It was love at first sight, although it took a while for the first date to happen, but that’s another story…

 

The Proposal

He proposed on Halloween in 2011. We had been together for six years, and had moved to Sweden and back, but it was still such a lovely surprise. We had been staying in a small country hotel for the weekend and after breakfast in bed on the last morning, he produced one of my favorite dessert cakes into which he had cunningly managed to fit the ring – box and all. He still had time to get down on one knee and say the magic words while I unwrapped the box. The champagne in the mini-bar came in handy after that.

 

The Dress

I saw my dress on the Sharon Hoey website when a friend was showing me her wedding dress, it was about a year before we were even engaged! It is by Sassi Holford and was the first and only wedding dress that I could ever have seen myself wearing. After we got engaged, I made an appointment, and even though it was the first dress I tried on, it was perfect and I still absolutely love it.

 

The Venue

After an amazing five days travelling around Italy organized by Irish Weddings in Italy, we decided on a beautiful old villa in Tuscany We visited seven great venues, sampling lunches, dinners and lots of great Italian wines. Although all the venues were incredible, we both knew instinctively that La Badia was the venue for us. The rooms are so beautiful with hand painted murals on the walls, and the gardens and pool area are very spacious and colourful with gorgeous wild flowers. We knew all of our guests could stay on site which was important to us. We also wanted the meal to be outdoors and they have a stunning veranda for dining.