Gregans Castle Wedding | Shannon + Darren

“May you always be blessed with walls for the wind. A roof for the rain. A warm cup of tea by the fire. Laughter to cheer you. Those you love near you. And all that your heart might desire.”

An Irish Proverb

Sometimes you sit down to write a blog and the words flow. Other times you sit and relive all the memories, suddenly it’s an hour later and you have written nothing. Simply because in that hour you have gone over to Shannon’s Instagram to have a chat. You have checked how her cat Felix is doing, he too has his own account. And, you sit wishing you could go back in time to their Gregans Castle Wedding, rearrange that hectic schedule so you could have gone out and celebrated with Shannon her Darren and their wonderful group of friends and family.

It happens that you meet a couple from a place called Saskatchewan, (and okay from Texas too) and for no reason in the world you form this bond. So that when you eventually meet each other in real life in Gregans Castle, you find yourself sitting on the bed with one of the castle cats chatting away about make up, travel, everything and anything, the way girls often do when getting ready for an event, (in this case Shannon’s inmate Irish Wedding) as though this is something we always did. Sean coughed, his subtle code for shut up talking and start shooting.

Shannon and Darren’s story reinforces to us that your true love is out there, you just need to wait patiently until the stars align.

Saskatchewan and Texas, its not like they are neighbouring countries. Yet, one day the kindest guy from Canada walks into a bar 1783 miles away from home and meets the love of his life. Well, not really a bar but you get my drift.

Their story reads like a movie script.

The pair are inseparable for their time together. As happens with all great love stories, the pair are tragically separated for a year, well, slight dramatisation, Darren’s rotation was over.

You know this is real deal though, because Darren convinces Shannon from lovely warm Texas to travel 1782 miles back up north to see him. Which eventually leads to Shannon packing up her life as she knew it and embracing the subzero icy cold Canadian winters.

One December, Darren surprises Shannon with a trip to Panama where Shannon’s mother is from.”We spent the first day hiking the rainforest and visiting volcanos and taking in the raw beauty of Panama. On the second day of our trip, Darren proposed to me at dusk in a secluded garden on the grounds of our bed and breakfast”

Like, seriously could this be any more movie magic if it tried??

Oh wait! It gets better, the pair fly to Ireland to get married!

Shannon and Darren are the most incredible down to earth, honest to goodness wholesome people you could meet. I firmly believe this down to the loving connection and respect they have for their parents, families and heritage. They are grounded in such a way that only the roots of the Methuselah trees would understand. And, like the Methuselah trees, Shannon and Darren fill the air with a mysterious magic that is palpable when you are around them.

With that, we wont say too much more and will let the images speak for themselves.

To Shannon and Darren, never change, we adore ye to the moon and back. See you in Canada soon!

xxxx