We completely appreciate that traveling across the pond is no small feat. We would love for all of our invited guests to attend, but we know that it is just not possible for some, so we will be having a second celebration in the Chicagoland area in the summer of 2025 for all of our guests who cannot (or can!) make it to the wedding.

Yes! Children are welcome and will be included accordingly on the invitations.

Yes! If you are certain (one way or another) about your RSVP status, please RSVP whenever it is convenient for you, but no later than November 1st. Please see the RSVP page for more details.

The wedding will be black tie optional. Here's some more information about what that means - https://www.theknot.com/content/what-to-wear-formal-black-tie-optional-black-tie-invited

Yes! Our venue, Barberstown Castle, has set aside a block of 21 guest rooms at a special rate for our wedding date. Most, if not all of these rooms will be occupied by our family and wedding party. If additional rooms are available we will update the booking instructions here. If there are no additional rooms in the block available, the hotel has more rooms available as well (only about $20 more than the discounted rate). There are other hotels in the area and I have provided a list in the travel section. Dublin is only about 20-30 minutes away (accessible by car or taxi) and has a plethora of hotels.

There are a few different options: - You can rent a car at the Dublin Airport and drive to the venue. It is about 20-40 minutes away from the airport. Remember, they drive on the opposite side of the road and if you cannot drive a manual, make sure you reserve an automatic car! We recently took a trip to Dublin and driving on the other side of the road is not as scary once you do it for a day or two. Ride share services like Uber and Lyft are accessible in Dublin. We could attempt to coordinate some kind of transportation with the hotel/wedding planner if enough people are interested.

I would recommend waiting until mid to late summer to book flights, but I would track them on google flights to find the lowest prices. It will likely be most cost effective to book flights earlier rather than later. It is also important to make sure your passports are up to date and not expiring anytime soon.

We would suggest applying for/renewing passports at least 6-8 months in advance to be safe. You can pay an additional fee to have this expedited (we did this and it only took about 4 weeks to receive our passports, but I wouldn't count on that).

All guests and plus ones will be listed on the formal invitation. If you have any questions please contact Tara at Staffordwestwedding@gmail.com

The dinner will be plated, but orders will be taken the day of. The options will include a steak dish, a chicken dish, and a vegetarian dish. Kid's meals will also be available. If you have any dietary restrictions, please let us know in the RSVP section.

Of course… we will be in Ireland after all. We will have an open bar for the majority of the event (although, I have come to learn that this is not customary in Ireland).