Castle Leslie, Ireland

When I think back to our wedding at Castle Leslie in 2021, the landscape sits gently among the memories. It was not the first thing I recalled, but something that has grown in significance with time. Small sensory moments return to me: the cool air lifting off the lake, the quiet hush beneath the towering yew trees, the way the Salix babylonica draped around us as we laughed through photographs, and the damp grass underfoot as we stole a few calm steps together.

St. Salvator’s Church, Glaslough

What strikes me now is how carefully these elements had been shaped long before we arrived.

The designer may have been gone for decades, yet their decisions about what to plant, where to open a view, and how to hold the edge of the lake continue to create atmosphere, feeling and memory. Landscapes take time to mature, and by the time we stand within them, we are experiencing years of growth, care and intention.

As a landscape architect, this stays with me. A well designed place has the quiet power to support lifes significant moments without demanding attention. It becomes part of the story, often in ways we only notice later. That long view, designing for people we will never meet and for memories not yet imagined, is one of the most meaningful aspects of what I do.