Our Wedding Story: Ballymaloe graduates have a country picnic

Laura and Rory, from Kilkenny county and city respectively, met in Ballymaloe cookery school after they had both changed careers – he from chemical engineering and she from property – in 2010.

After two years working as pastry chefs in France the couple moved to London where they both landed jobs in the Savoy hotel.

Last summer they married in a church ceremony in Owning, Co Kilkenny, and with a shared image of their wedding celebrations, opted for tipis from magnakata.com in the back garden of Laura’s parents’ home. On each table was a picnic board complete with salads, cheeses, antipasti, chutneys and pestos (made by the bride and groom), homemade breads, meats and dips. The dessert buffet, also created by the bride and groom, consisted of six different types of desserts.

Laura’s brother and brother-in-law made the furniture and the bar from pallets; her mother and aunt did the flowers which were all picked from neighbours’ gardens or hedges, while sisters, sisters-in-law, nieces and nephews created the decorations and Laura’s uncle provided the straw bales and milk churns.

Her father made the place-cards, menus and mass booklets, and bridesmaid Oona Kavanagh designed the invitations.

Laura and Rory recently set up Cakeface Pastry (cakefacepastry.com) which specialises in quirky cakes, pastries and desserts. They are are based in Kilkenny.

Photographer: Ross Costigan