The Bride Carried a Handmade Silk Flower Bouquet for Her Ancestral Castle Wedding in Ireland

When Casper Ettelson first spotted Serena Wardell at a party in Sydney, Australia in March 2020, he felt an instant attraction. “Casper was very bold and came up to me immediately to ask me on a date,” Serena says.

The model and artist had just moved back to the city, and told him “maybe.” After spending some time together with friends at the beach, having coffee and dinners together, she agreed to go on a date with Casper, who is co-founder of Fishbowl Australia (Thisbowl in New York), a fast-casual salad chain. Soon after they met, the first Covid lockdown began, and they dated long distance as Serena went to live with her parents. “When Casper repeatedly tried to book me flights back to Sydney mid-pandemic, I knew that this was serious,” Serena says.

About four years later, in June 2024, Casper proposed while on vacation in Mallorca. “I had booked the restaurant so I had absolutely no clue he would do it,” Serena says. He had called the restaurant and planned to have an outdoor table with a view of the sunset in Deià, but it was too windy, and they were seated inside. A few minutes later, they were brought to a private table in a special courtyard, where they were protected from the wind, but could enjoy the “most spectacular sunset” that Serena had ever seen. Casper took out the ring and asked her to marry him.

“Naturally I spent the rest of the evening crying and did not eat the rest of the meal, but drank the Champagne,” Serena says. “We kept giggling about the poor waiters who went above and beyond for us, even after we both spent the rest of the evening increasingly drunker and in tears,” she adds.

For their wedding, the two knew that Ireland—and specifically, Serena’s family’s ancestral home of Crom Castle—was the perfect place for the celebration. A cousin of the current Earl of Erne, Serena grew up going to Ireland to spend time with her father’s family at the castle. “For me, I associate Ireland with the abundance of love, happiness, good food and family,” Serena says. Her father is from Ireland, and she first took Casper there in 2022.

“Nothing made me more excited than seeing Casper love Ireland more than I ever thought he would, especially the endless green grass fields, the food, and the people. During that trip, we went up and visited Crom and Lord and Lady Erne for lunch. Casper and I both joked to everyone that if we ever got married, we’d come back and do it at Crom,” Serena says. Four years later, in June 2026, they did.

When thinking about how they wanted the wedding to feel, Casper says: “The theme was simply to express who we are to each other, especially behind closed doors. All the little things we do to entertain ourselves when together. Our favorite foods, wine, music, aesthetics, all wrapped into one.”

“We wanted the day to feel playful,” Casper continues. “To step outside of normality for a weekend, encourage expression, creativity and above all the weird and wonderful.” That meant, among other details, that Serena drew the wedding stationery and keepsakes herself, including name cards, drink menus, matchboxes, postcards, and playing cards. (There was one snag in the match plan: They couldn’t bring 150 matchboxes on the flight from Australia, so they brought the empty boxes, and then forgot to fill them the morning of the wedding. “Moments like these, you look back on and realize there’s only so much you can do and plan from another country and that things will go wrong, you just have to embrace it,” Serena says.)

They planned much of the wedding themselves, with the help of Epic Events. When it came to food, Serena’s cousin Natasha Wright did the catering, sourcing local ingredients. Casper planned the cocktail offerings, including very dirty martinis, margarita, elderflower (with syrup made from elderflower in Natasha’s garden) and Aperol spritzes, Pimm’s cups, and more, plus an important source of fuel which flowed throughout the weekend: Guinness on tap. Music played a vital role in the celebrations, with four different playlists featuring Nick Cave, The Velvet Underground, The Beatles and more. Their ceremony song was a cover of Simon and Garfunkel’s “Scarborough Fair” by Séamus and Caiomhe Uí Fhlatharta.

For their wedding fashion, Serena wore a custom Prea James Bridal gown for the ceremony. “I always knew I wanted something with a structured corset bodice, even before we chose Ireland and the castle as the venue,” Serena says.

Her bouquet held special meaning. “I knew I wanted to make my bouquet out of handmade silk flowers from the beginning, as it was something I remember my mom and I doing together in some form of arts and crafts as a child,” Serena says. “Prea was amazing as she helped me with the construction of the rosettes, which also became a theme that travelled into both looks, where we decided to scatter across the bodice and into the veil as well.” The groom, who wore custom suits by Belance Tailors in Paddington, had a matching rosette for his lapel. For jewelry, Serena wore Australian Jewellery brand Kate and Kole, a vintage Irish claddagh ring, and her engagement ring by Alinka Jewellery. For her beauty, the bride channeled her great-grandmother and grandmother, going for a vintage, flushed look for her hair and makeup.

Reflecting on the wedding, both bride and groom say they were surprised by how calm they felt during the ceremony. “At one point in the evening, I looked around the dance floor, and every single individual at the wedding was on it,” says Serena. “It made me so happy to see everyone there enjoying the music, co-mingling with family and people they’d maybe not met before but enjoying it all the same. I’ve never danced and smiled so hard in my entire life.”

“After a year of anticipation, you expect to be nervous but on the day we both fell into a state of comfort,” Casper says. “As soon as I saw Serena walk down the stairs, we locked eyes, and it was a feeling like no other.”

An aerial view of Crom the morning of the wedding. It was supposed to rain all weekend so to see the sun shining down on us felt like such a good omen. —Serena

The steaming corner. We realized we had only two hand steamers to share amongst everyone, so the girls were running up and down corridors stealing them off the boys and other family members also trying to get ready. It was hilarious and chaotic. —Serena

Mid hair and makeup. I was in the girls’ room in the main wing overlooking the deer fields and the lake. Sometimes everyone would run out to do various things and I’d have a moment of just me and the fields. Felt like a scene out of a movie. —Serena

A portrait of my great-grandmother, Lady Davina Crichton, Countess of Erne, in the great dining room. My favorite portrait, in my favorite room of the house. —Serena

The beautiful jewels from Kate and Kole. We developed a great relationship after they made our wedding bands for us, so I kept the pieces exclusively theirs for the entire weekend, except for my vintage Claddagh ring. We made custom playing cards using the drawing I had originally done for the invitations. These were snapped (literally) up so quickly, I am excited to see a guest whipping them out of their bag next time I’m out for dinner with them. My silk bouquet, which I DIY’ed and sewed a few days before, Prea James made the physical flower tops with offcuts from my wedding dress and then I stemmed them with wire and silk. —Serena

Pin curls and silk pyjamas. This was moments after I went to dermaplane my face and accidentally sliced my finger. This is so classic of me to have done (there are so many photos of me with a massive band-aid on my thumb during the wedding. Oops.) —Serena

Four out of six of my bridesmaids. We were giggling over me and unintentionally all my brunettes. Abbey, who is on my left, is my childhood best friend, but otherwise the rest of the girls I each met seven years ago when I moved back to Sydney. I am extremely lucky to have these women in my life. —Serena

The Crichton family crest. My grandmother sadly was too elderly to travel for the wedding day, but lives in Ireland and we visit her regularly. I know she would have loved that a grandchild got to get married in her childhood home. —Serena

Everyone suiting up before the ceremony. We had groomsmen, fathers, brothers, and other friends and family all getting ready with us in this room. —Casper

Groomsman Fraser Dovell pinning the handmade silk rose to my lapel to match Serena’s bouquet. —Casper