Photos by Simon Lazewski and Magda Kacperska

“We always knew we wanted our wedding to be non-conventional,” says Przem Zajac, who married his partner Les Cullinan at a celebration last June that was anything but straight. The pair met 14 years ago on a night out clubbing at the now defunct POD, went on a date a week later and moved in together just a few months after that.

“I finished with my boyfriend the night I met Les,” says Przem, who always knew they would get married. The two were also very clear that they wanted to wait for full and equal marriage to be introduced rather than getting a civil partnership, even though they got engaged two years before the marriage referendum.

“ On our invites, we wanted to make it clear that it wasn’t a ‘you have to wear a suit’ kind of wedding.

“It was on a New Year’s Eve in 2003,” says Les of the engagement. “We ended up staying in drinking Prosecco and champagne, and we got quite drunk. It was on Facebook before we had even discussed it at all!”

“The proper excitement started the next day when we started dreaming about what we were going to do,” adds Przem.

The excitement built when later that year the two had an engagement party in Przem’s native Poland, which was attended by 80 friends and family, but then the wedding plans went on the back burner.

“After the party, we kind of forgot about it because we didn’t have a date,” says Les. “To be honest, getting married was never something that was massively on my radar. Then after the marriage referendum win, the excitement started escalating again.”

When it came to engaging wedding planners, Przem and Les were of one mind, and coincidentally the planners they wanted had the same idea. “Long before we had a date, we said that if there was anybody we would like to organise it, it would be Dee and Sinéad from Hunt & Gather,” says Przem. “We’d been at a couple of the events they’d organised before, which were amazing. We didn’t even know that they did weddings.”

“At our first meeting, they told us they’d had similar thoughts about us,” says Les. “They have the same circle of friends, and they knew we’d be open to the same creativity. Anybody who asks about whether to get a wedding planner or not, it was money well spent in this case. They were absolutely fantastic, and it was like a wonderland adventure thanks to them.”

The wonderland adventure that was Przem and Les’ wedding took place at Headfort House in Kells, which had one particular offering that made it a front runner for the pair.

“We knew we wanted the wedding to be festival-like,” says Les, “which meant it running as late as we wanted, as opposed to being turfed out at 2am. When we found that we were going to be able to organise a bar there to go on ’til all hours, we were delighted. And then we saw a just one photo of the venue and fell in love with it instantly. It’s so spectacular that on the day of the wedding, one of our French guests said it was like being in Versailles.”

While Hunt & Gather looked after planning a festival wedding with all the elements Przem and Les wanted, the couple went off in search of their perfect outfits, which Przem describes as “two very different fashion stories which somehow complimented each other”.

“I generally wear a lot of black, so I knew I was going to go with something different,” says Les. “I got obsessed with white clothes and spent months just looking at them on the Internet. Eventually I found some pieces from independent designers on Etsy, which weren’t too expensive. My Buffalo shoes were vintage and our friend, Jaime Nanci-Barron designed our hats.”

By comparison, Przem splashed out on his outfit. “One day I googled an image search for ‘pink tulle top’ and one of the first results brought me to the website of this Italian high fashion boutique. The prices were out of the question, but then I thought, this is the one time in my life that I’m going to go for it.

“We didn’t have one element that would be considered traditional wedding style.

I don’t usually spend a lot of money on clothes. It’s by a Korean designer called Kaimin, and it’s the best piece of clothing I’ve ever found. My credit card company almost cut my cards off because they thought I was a victim of a scam.

“The top is so ridiculous that it’s really hard to put anything with it. I went for PVC trousers in black, and a pair of Future Ankle-strap Sneakers by Maison Margiela. The weird thing is that Björk is one of my biggest idols, and literally a week after buying the top, she had a picture of herself wearing Kaimin at a gig in Los Angeles.”

Indeed, Björk played a pivotal role during the ceremony as Przem and Les walked in to the ceremony to her euphoric hit, ‘Big Time Sensuality’.

“It was the most amazing moment ever,” says Przem. “The response was so huge, so loud and wonderful, and there was such a warm feeling to see so many people we love. I’m so glad so many people captured it on phones, because I get to see it again and again.”

The celebrant was their friend Lollie, who runs Marry Me Ireland and who fashioned a ceremony that was both deeply personal and reflected the historic surroundings of Headford House. Przem and Les exchanged their own vows.

“It was really emotional,” says Les. “You’re looking around and you’re seeing so many people from all parts of your life, with your family right at the front.”

One person from Les’ life, his grandmother who passed away the year of the referendum, could not be there, but his aunt made a speech about her during the ceremony that brought the room to tears.

“It was an amazing inter-generational story of acceptance, and her role in making everybody accept Les in the family,” says Przem. “The story of her wanting to vote in the referendum and being too sick at that stage to be able to do it, and wearing her Yes Equality badge in hospital…”

“I didn’t hear the speech until that day,” says Les. “I was in bits. I had this veil on, which I thought was hiding my ugly crying face, but you can see it in the photos.”

The pair danced out to ‘Deeper and Deeper’ by Madonna, and then the party got into full swing, festival style. After Jaime Nanci-Baron and his band played, there were four sets from different DJs. The food was served in boxes, and like the grooms, the menu was completely vegetarian.

In the wee small hours, the crowd moved to a different, secretly set-up part of the venue. “It was like a rave, with neon lights and everything,” says Przem. “It was a huge surprise for everyone, three hours of back-to-back proper club music, with some slow jams thrown in for good measure.”

When asked about their favourite memory of the day, both Przem and Les instantly bring back the moment they walked into the ceremony. Part of that moment was the sheer colour of their guests, representing 35 different nationalities.

“On our invites, we wanted to make it clear that it wasn’t a ‘you have to wear a suit’ kind of wedding,” says Przem. “People knew that if they had one piece of clothing in the wardrobe that they’d never dare to wear, this was the wedding to wear it to. There would be no judgements at all.

“Outrageous is a word to describe it. We didn’t have one element that would be considered to be traditional wedding style.”

“For both of our parents it was incredible for them to see the diversity of people we know,” says Les. “And to see the amount of support and love we get from our friends.”

Like the wedding, which took its time to come, the couple saved their honeymoon for later, rather than jetting off immediately.

“We’re flying to Japan in November” Przem explains. “We had to have something to look forward to after the wedding, and travel is a big part of our lives. Up until we got married I’d say the best thing that happened in our lives was our world trip nine years ago, but the wedding topped it all. I still haven’t come down from it.”