Ciara Elliott
When Irish-Scottish spirit meets Guatemalan warmth and Swiss chic, magic happens: this wedding is proof! Every detail of Swiss-Irish Carolina and Martins' day was designed to honour four distinct cultures when on 12 June 2026 they invited 150 guests to celebrate against the dramatic backdrop of Markree Castle in Co. Sligo. With 21 nationalities represented, theirs was not only a union of two gorgeous people, but a celebration of an international life built in the global hub of Switzerland. Photographer Darek Novak captured the day so perfectly. You can read all about it and peruse the stunning pictures below... But first let's hear more about this cosmopolitan couple whose relationship began five years prior in Switzerland. Carolina, who is half Swiss and half Guatemalan - was living near Lucerne, while Martin, half Irish and half Scottish was working in Zurich. The city of Zug was the perfect halfway meeting point. Their first date was during the European Football Championships. "Martin loves football and had deliberately chosen a fancy restaurant because he thought it would mean there were no distractions," says Carolina. "However, just as the match was starting, a huge projector descended from behind our table and began showing the game. We spent the rest of the night watching Switzerland beat France on penalties. It turned out to be a pretty memorable first date." The first time the couple visited Ireland together was in 2022, a few months after they met. It took Carolina a little while to understand the Irish sense of humour, so they did some very important cultural preparation beforehand. "Her two main reference points were Derry Girls and The Two Johnnies podcast, followed more recently by Father Ted." says Martin. "Once she cracked those she was fully up to speed!" In December 2024, Martin orchestrated a secret proposal on top of Pilatus Mountain overlooking Lucerne. They quietly shared the news with Swiss friends before flying back to Ireland a week later for Christmas, keeping their news under wraps to surprise their Irish family and friends face-to-face during the holiday season. Having first asked Carolina to marry him using a traditional Irish Claddagh ring as the "asking ring", the couple then visited Bucherer, one of the world's leading luxury retailers of fine watches and jewellery, in Lucerne to select the final ring. The choice of jeweller held a deep sentimental value for Carolina, as her grandfather had previously served in a luxury historic watch and jewellery house before its eventual acquisition by Rolex. Located just a few miles from Martin's family home in Sligo, Markree Castle was a venue the couple already knew and loved. "We wanted to avoid a traditional hotel wedding and we also didn't want a church wedding," says Carolina. "Markree gave us the feeling of having a proper Irish castle wedding while still allowing us to make the day feel completely personal." Carolina wowed in a chic and contemporary minimalist gown from Made With Love Bride, having traveled directly to the Ariel Spose boutique in Milan to collect it. She styled her look with a gold Rolex passed down from her grandmother. The bridesmaids' chic moss green coloured silk dresses are from Billy J. Carolina’s bridal look was perfected by hairstylist Sorcha Styles and make-up artist Selina G Makeup, ensuring a classic, radiant appearance. The white calla lily wedding bouquets - as well as all the flowers throughout the day - were brought to life by the Flower Shed Sligo. Martin meanwhile opted for a classic black-tie tuxedo from Suitsupply, wearing a white dinner jacket for the ceremony before switching to a black jacket for dinner. He also sported a Jaeger-LeCoultre automatic watch, which was a sweet pre-wedding gift from Carolina. The couple's wedding bands are from Appleby Jewellers. We love a dog in a wedding album, and if the grounds and grand setting of Markree Castle didn't already steal the hearts of the international guests, the castle's resident Irish Wolfhound, Fionn undoubtedly did. "The weather was the only real challenge on the day," says Martin."It was a June wedding, but the ceremony day delivered sun, clouds, wind, rain, warmth and cold in roughly equal measure. In the end, we decided it was actually perfect: our international guests had come to Ireland, and they got the full Irish weather experience in one afternoon!" The outdoor ceremony on the castle's back patio was breathtaking. "Neither of us is super religious, so rather than having a traditional church ceremony, we created a light-hearted ceremony with Irish traditions woven through it," says Carolina. "We couldn't decide who should say their vows first, so our officiant Orla devised a very scientific solution," says Carolina. "We had two small glass vials, one containing water and one containing tequila. We each picked one, and whoever got the tequila had to go first. I lost, but Martin then took a tequila shot in solidarity, which did not exactly make either of the vows easier to deliver." The central ritual was an Irish handfasting, or “tying the knot”, representing couple's union as well as the coming together of four cultures. "We used four ribbons: green for Ireland, royal blue for Scotland, deep red for Switzerland and sky blue for Guatemala," says Carolina. "One friend or family member representing each culture read a short piece about our relationship in their own language (Irish, English, Swiss-German, and Mam, which is an ancient Mayan language from Guatemala) before placing their ribbon around our hands." Carolina's cousin Aiko represented Switzerland, Martin's friend Lisa represented Ireland, Martin's uncle and godfather John represented Scotland, and Carolina's cousin Dominic represented Guatemala. "The ceremony was probably the most personal part of the wedding," says Carolina. "Our celebrant was one of Martin's great friends, Orla, who had grown up just a few houses down the road from him. She is a primary school teacher but had never officiated a wedding before, but she was so natural at it that you would have thought she had been doing it for years." "We wanted our guests to feel that the wedding genuinely represented us as a couple," says Carolina. "And the best feedback we received afterwards was exactly that: people said the whole theme, atmosphere and energy felt like us. For us, that mattered more than whether every traditional wedding box had been ticked." As the wedding party migrated indoors the reception at the castle was a true testament to the couple’s hospitality. The service provided by Markree Castle perfectly accommodated a crowd that appreciate the finer things in life - a well as the Irish and Scottish enthusiasm for a celebratory drink! "Advice for the day?" says Carolina. "I would say appreciate all the people you have around you and how happy everybody is to genuinely be there and celebrate with you. Try to hold onto that feeling and remember it, because the day goes incredibly quickly." "We will also always remember the incredible effort people made to be there," says Carolina. "Around half of our guests travelled from outside Ireland, including my grandparents who came from Todos Santos in Guatemala and Martin's sister all the way from Melbourne, Australia. Having 21 nationalities represented felt like a snapshot of the international life we've built together." The soundtrack of the day transitioned beautifully from day to night, with Sarah Crummy provided the delicate ceremony music, while Pádraic Collins set a relaxed tone for the drinks reception. As the evening progressed, Late Night Radio took over the stage, keeping the multi-national crowd dancing late into the night. Rather than traditional wedding favours, Carolina designed a silk scarf for each guest, featuring hand-drawn symbols representing different parts of our lives together. "We included our travels, home countries, favourite books, favourite drinks and other little references that meant something to us," she says. Each guest received one of the scarves at their place setting, together with a small postcard explaining the meaning behind the symbols. On the menu was crispy Irish pork belly and black pudding, potato and leek soup, a choice of roast Irish Black Angus striploin or hake marinated in lime and Dingle gin, followed by apple crumble. "We chose the menu partly because we genuinely love the dishes, but also because we wanted our guests travelling from around the world to experience some Irish food," says Carolina. "The food was one of the most consistently praised parts of the day. Guests commented not just on the quality of the food but on the service throughout dinner." After dinner the wedding party were all invited to a slice of the three-tier wedding cake, which was decorated with calla lilies, created by Julia P. From Elysium Cake in Bundoran. "Our first dance was Can't Take My Eyes Off You by Frankie Valli," says Carolina. "We chose it because it is a classic, but also because it says exactly how we feel about each other." "My favourite moment of the day? The vows really got us. It was the first time during the day when everything else fell away and it was simply the two of us making those promises to each other in front of everyone we love." Carolina says what made the wedding uniquely them were their people: "It was Irish without being overly traditional, personal without being overly formal, and elegant without taking itself too seriously. Looking back, the things we remember most are the moments where everyone was simply having fun together!" Other favourite moments the couple remember from the day include "the best man's panic when he was unexpectedly asked for the rings" and "international guests asking for subtitles during the best man's speech because of the Sligo accent and Irish cultural references." Carolina says she loved that the weather provided the full Irish experience: sun, clouds, wind, rain, warmth and cold throughout the same day. "Looking back, we laughed at the 4:30am residence-bar head count, when we discovered that roughly 60% of the people still standing were Swiss – despite our confident pre-wedding prediction that the Swiss would be the first to go to bed." What a gorgeous wedding! Congratulations Carolina and Martin! The warmest thank you to our wonderful couple and to Darek Novak for sharing today's magical Markree Castle wedding with our readers!
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