Wedding of the week: Long-distance romance comes home for Katherine and Daniel
Wedding Katherine Lee And Their Bismark Photography Party Daniel Pictures: And Sutton
That phrase 'together, apart' is one that we’ll probably always associate with the years of pandemic lockdowns — but funnily enough, it’s these words Cork couple, Katherine Sutton and Daniel Lee, use to sum up their long-distance romance.
Katherine, from Kilcully, and Daniel, from Donoughmore, were married in St Mary’s Church, Waterloo, Blarney, on July 30, by Father John O’Donovan and held their reception at Cork’s Kingsley Hotel.
When they met at a party 11 years ago, Katherine and Daniel were smitten. “After just 12 months together we made the decision to travel and moved to Australia where we stayed for two years. There was no looking back. It was the best experience,” says Katherine.
But she adds, since then they “have actually spent a lot of their time ‘together, apart’” as Daniel’s work required him to travel a lot.
“For five years of our relationship he was based in the UK,” says Katherine. “Needless to say, there were a lot of flights a lot of making our schedules work to see each other, and a lot of video calls.
“But it was all worth it when we built our own home four years ago and Daniel returned home to work in Ireland.” They got engaged three years ago, on August 17, 2019.
This, jokes Katherine, was “the best-ever surprise — a surprise that was almost 10 years in the making”.
“One Saturday morning I returned home from town to him on one knee with candles around the living room, Moët on ice, and Michael Bublé playing on Alexa,” she says.
They had always envisioned “a small intimate wedding”, she says: “We don't have large families and we just wanted the entire experience to be one of fun, laughter, and love.
“Covid-19 really made it hit home when we had to cancel our original date of July 31, 2021. We realised even more that to have everyone in one place and together celebrating was more special than we could ever have imagined.”
By their side for the occasion were the bride’s mother, Joan Lewis, and the groom’s father, Tony Lee.
Katherine’s sister, Sarah Sutton, was her maid of honour while taking on bridesmaid duties were Daniel’s sister, Sarah Lee, and Katherine’s friend Jackie McCarthy and cousin Lauren Lewis.
Daniel’s friend, Ian Beakey, was his best man; and lending their support were his nephew Samson Kandisayi, and friends James Hegarty and Dan Beakey, as groomsmen.
Millie Jane Nolan and Clodagh Beakey were the flower girls.
“We had close family and friends travel from Australia, Scotland, London and Belfast. Because of this we started the celebrations early on the Friday evening, we had a meal for 25 of our close family and friends that had travelled and we had such a wonderful relaxing time catching up before the big day. It got rid of any nerves, that's for sure — or maybe that was the wine.
Bismark Photography captured the occasion on camera, while Elizabeth Cott, Wonderous Weddings, created the floral arrangements and Tracy Desmond Bell, Trace of Cakes, made the wedding cake.
“Our wedding day was everything we dreamed of. We had so much fun and it could not have been more perfect if we had tried. The fact I struggle to find photos of us not laughing in the shot says it all. We had our closest family and friends celebrate with us — 90 in total. I can’t think of one thing I would change.
“Lisa Finn, our wedding singer, made our day so special — she was out of this world — and our band, Electric Circus travelled, had the dancefloor full the entire night!” adds Katherine.
Christine O’Connor, Ballincollig, was the makeup artist, as the party prepared in The Kingsley’s penthouse suite.
Katherine looked elegant in a Mori Lee design she sourced in Vows, and Eoin Murphy, Red Church, Cork, ensured the groom and his party were dapper.
The bride’s cousin, David Lewis, steered things in the right direction when the wedding car was cancelled a week before the event. “We rebooked another wedding car but he stepped up to be chauffeur on the day to my bridesmaids to get them to the church on time and supply them with champagne on the way back,” says Katherine.
For their honeymoon, they “partied in Las Vegas, relaxed in Cancun, and missed our flight in Chicago so got to spend the night do some shopping”, says the bride.
Katherine is client development manager at Arema Connect and Daniel is foreman supervisor at Murphy International Ltd.
They live in Kilcully.
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