Wedding of the Week: Anniversary and wedding celebrations for Deirdre and Andrew's families

While four decades will always bring changes in wedding celebration styles, it was during the two years before this Kinsale’s duo’s big day, on July 30, 2022, that many couples experienced the most significant.

And it was amid those times of pandemic restrictions also that Deirdre and Andrew got engaged. “During lockdown, we would go for walks with our dogs on a small beach near our house,” says Deirdre. “We loved going there and that’s where Andrew proposed, in April 2021.” 

The couple’s paths had first crossed on a night out in Cork city. “That was a few years ago, when were introduced to one another by a mutual friend,” says Deirdre.

Their life’s road next took them across the border, to Kerry, where it stopped at St Mary’s Cathedral, Killarney.

After saying their ‘I do’s’ in a ceremony led by Canon John Fitzgerald, the couple and their guests enjoyed a reception in The Brehon Hotel where Deirdre’s parents, Majella and John Ring, and Andrew’s mother and father, Mary and Neil Creedon, together with his grandmother Breda Buckley toasted to their future happiness.

“We wanted to have a summer wedding with all our family and friends, hoping that all covid restrictions would be lifted, and that is exactly what we did during the August bank holiday weekend,” says Deirdre.

“Chloe, the wedding coordinator at The Brehon, went above and beyond. She was so lovely to work with."

Also essential to the occasion were Deirdre’s sisters Nicola Ring (maid of honour) and Shauna Ring (bridesmaid) along with Andrew’s friends Johnny Breslin (best man) and Shane Batt (groomsman).

The flowergirls and pageboys, all nieces and nephews of the couple, thoroughly enjoyed the limelight, adds the bride. “Our flowergirls, Muireann Dennehy, Siún Dennehy and Nessa Lynch, and our pageboys, Leo Lynch and Finn Dennehy, made the day extra special for us," she says. "They loved being involved and they all looked absolutely adorable!” 

Deirdre didn’t have far to roam to find her dream wedding gown. “I bought it in The White & Gold bridal shop in Kinsale. It was the first shop I went to when I started looking at dresses,” she says.

“On the morning of the wedding, we got our hair and makeup done in the Brehon in the bridal suite. Andrea Murphy did our makeup and the team from Cathriona's Hair and Beauty, based in Tralee, did our hair.”

The groom and his party sourced their suits from Morleys, Cork, while Terry Cunningham, Shades of Bloom, Killorglin, created the floral arrangements. 

"We were blown away by the beautiful floral display Terry designed for outside the cathedral," says the bride.

Killarney-based Micheál O’Sullivan, osullivanphotographyirl.com, and Daydreampictures.ie were behind the lens providing the photography and videography respectively “We had our family photos taken in Killarney National Park just across the road from the cathedral, and then the bridal party photos were taken at Ross Castle,” says Deirdre.

The newlyweds, who live in Kinsale, jetted off to San Sebastian in Spain for their honeymoon.

• If you would like your wedding featured, email eve.kelliher@examiner.ie