2010 Winners
Magherafelt Couple Win €10,000 Wedding at Ballyliffin Lodge & Spa
Magherafelt couple Deirdre Scullion and Bryan Mc Cann are celebrating today after being drawn as the 2010 winners of the Ballyliffin Lodge & Spa €10,000 wedding competition.
Over 80 couples attended the Wedding Fair last Sunday at the Ballyliffin Lodge & Spa to find out if they were the lucky winners of the €10,000 wedding competition, but of course there can only be one winner and on this occasion it was Deirdre and Bryan from Magherafelt, Co. Derry.
Deirdre, the bride to be said, “Ballyliffin Lodge & Spa was the first and only hotel that we looked at to book our wedding. We fell in love with the location being set on the coast and the hotel itself is a stunning venue. Breda made us feel very welcome and comfortable when we had our appointment and we knew that the staff of Ballyliffin would look after us and our guests on the big day!!
She added, “Neither Bryan or myself have ever had any luck in competitions before so we hadn’t even discussed what winning would mean to us as we never imagined that we would have a chance with so many couples entering the draw! When our names were called out we were both in complete shock, as you might see from the photographs. Winning this draw has been such a fantastic help to our wedding plans, we have both been saving so hard for our dream day and to have Ballyliffin Lodge and Spa pay for our reception is a dream come true. We are even more excited about our wedding day now, thanks to the generosity of the Ballyliffin Lodge and Spa Hotel. It is just fantastic. A dream come true.”
The couple who got engaged in Las Vegas in September 2008, plan to wed on 8 October 2010 at the Ballyliffin Lodge & Spa.
Cecil Doherty, Managing Director of the 40 bedroom hotel said, The Ballyliffin Lodge opened its doors in June 2005 and quickly established itself as one of the leading hotels in Donegal. We have had wedding enquiries from around the world but in the past two years we have come to understand more the greater financial concerns for couples getting married so we decided to introduce new €35 menus and our €10,000 wedding reception competition.
He added, “ The response to the competition has been such, that we have decided to re-introduce it for 2011 wedding couples. This will be the third year for the competition but we have found from talking to couples, that there is nothing quite like it out there and couples are requesting we continue with it. So book your wedding for 2011 and you will be entered into the draw to win your wedding reception worth €10,000. I would like to take this opportunity of thanking all our sponsors, without whom this competition would not be possible.”
2009 Winners
Derry Couple Scoop €10,000 wedding at Ballyliffin Lodge & Spa
Over 90 couples were entered into the 2009 Ballyliffin Lodge & Spa €10,000, but in the end there could be only one winner. Laura Crilly and Mark Colhoun from Derry & Ballygawley respectively, have scooped the 2009 Ballyliffin Lodge & Spa €10,000 wedding.
Mark and Laura got engaged last July over a romantic picnic at Queen Mebhs tomb and plan to wed on 4 September 2009. Mark exclaimed, "We absolutely shocked, and we really weren't expecting it. It's the best thing to ever happen to us! I have never won anything in my life and when our names were called out I just couldn’t believe it" He added’ Things like this just don’t happen to me. It’s amazing. It hasn’t sunk in and probably wont for days.’
Mark & Laura were paying for the wedding themselves and had been saving hard to ensure they had the wedding of their dreams at the 4 Star Ballyliffin Lodge & Spa.
Laura said, ‘I had a feeling just before our names were announced that it was going to be me and I can’t believe it is. We are taking care of all the finances of the wedding ourselves so this prize will make the world of difference to us. We just can’t believe our good fortune. My parents used to rent a cottage at the entrance of the Ballyliffin Lodge every Summer and I used to play on the site where the hotel sits today so that is why we chose the hotel as our special wedding venue and it just feels so right now especially since we have won the 2009 wedding.’
She added, ‘I would definitely say to anyone thinking of booking their wedding at the Ballyliffin Lodge & Spa for 2010 – do it now and make sure you enter the 2010 draw as next year it could be your turn.
