Day 10: Buncrana

A Big Irish Wedding!

Caitlin has generously given me permission write a post about the wedding. This is quite different from my usual posts, but I have a few photos to share, and we will see what develops.

We went to Paul’s parents house and picked up Caitlin and a bunch of stuff and whisked them off to the salon for a 7 AM start.

We soon discovered that the two big bottles of bubbly were left behind in our fridge, and as I raced back to pick them up I was told that we’d also forgotten to pick up Erin! I told myself that these were just the early goof ups and that the day would get better, right?😐

While the ladies beautified I drove back to where we had stayed to shower, shave, pack and clean up the house before loading everything into the car to be moved to a second family house. A small 2 bedroom row house where Paul’s mother, Geraldine was raised with her 6 siblings. I then drove onwards to Paul’s parent’s principal residence to pick up a bunch more stuff including our two granddaughters. However, I arrived to discover that everyone had raced away from there in various cars earlier that morning, and that no one had remembered to leave the car seats for me. Paul brought out all the stuff that I was to take, and it was more or less all there. So I drove down to the other house by the water and Paul soon came along with the two kids tightly strapped in the backseat. A few minutes later his sister arrived with the two car seats. I knew that things would get better, right?😂 Remember, this was Friday the 13th!! What could possibly go wrong?

I was supposed to bring the girls up to the salon at a certain time, but I received a text telling me to take them to the Airbnb where all of the bridesmaids were staying with their various partners. The plan was for everyone to get ready there.

I probably looked a little stressed when I came in as I was immediately offered a drink, which I declined. It was only 11:00 in the morning.😎

Of course the photographer was running around taking all sorts of pictures (I thought he was actually pretty good) and there was a house full of people in various stages of preparation and dress. There was also food and drink everywhere, and frankly the whole thing was simply a lot of fun. Loads of anticipation and excitement in the air!

Being the Father of the Bride I was invited by the photographer to experience the big reveal, meaning that I was the first to see Caitlin in her wedding dress. Well, with the exception of the photographer I guess. I must say, she was looking pretty amazing! Fortunately, by that time I was already dressed and in my tux. No informality for the Irish wedding party on this day!

And then it was off to the church with everyone dispersing fairly quickly depending on their role. The church was just two doors down, so everyone was able to get there quite quickly. Fortunately, the rain held off and it was just cloudy with wind.

Family friends arrived to pick Caitlin and I up in a very fancy new car and the proceeded to drive us through Buncrana honking the horn as we went. I couldn’t help but think that there must have been a few people who looked in the window and thought that I must be some wealthy older gent who had just married a trophy wife!😬

Then into a beautiful neoclassical church (I think that’s what Erin called it) where preparations were underway for the walk down the aisle. I was under prior instructions from Caitlin to keep her from crying, so I told her that while visiting the toilet the previous evening that I had googled, how to keep a bride from crying on the walk down the aisle. This seemed to work as we slowly made our way to the front of the church.😂

And then the official part was all done.

And we all sort of relaxed as we drove over to the beautiful local bridge for photos.

In any event, we all survived the photos and the wind on the bridge. It should be interesting to see the photos.

Then a little more craziness happened when I was asked to drive back to drop something off and then to pick up Erin. However, Erin sent me a text saying that she was OK and that she would see me at the reception. Thinking that everything was OK I drove out to the reception, but on my arrival I received an email from Annemarie asking me where I was. Oops! I had forgotten Annemarie and the girls! So I drove back into town to pick them up and then drove back out to the hotel where the reception was being held. Sheesh!

We were staying in the hotel that night with the girls in our room. So we checked in and took all the gear up to our room before going down to the reception.

We enjoyed a very fine meal, which came with sides of vegetables, particularly potatoes! So many potatoes, but I reminded myself that it was an Irish wedding!🙂 There were the usual speeches, and in this case they were all very well done. Annemarie and I got up to speak having the advantage of almost 37 years of stories to choose from. A piece of cake!

The meal and speeches completed, the big Irish wedding turned to some pretty full on dancing and partying! Caitlin and I had been practising our father/daughter dance to Elvis Presley’s Jailhouse Rock. During my walk in France this past spring I had been tasked by Caitlin to pick out some music for our father/daughter dance. While walking with some music playing, I thought to myself that we should do something a little different. Something to shake things up a bit. I texted Caitlin, and to my surprise, she agreed. Caitlin came up with this dance;

It took a while to master, but we eventually sorted it out. From being focused on all the steps and stuff prior to the wedding, we finally relaxed and just enjoyed the moment. It was a lot of fun. Small fact; the Irish love country and western music and Elvis!

Sometimes missed in my original post was that I had to dance in bare feet because the shoes were too long and too big! I was wearing three layers of sock and still too big!😂

People at the wedding repeatedly told us how much they enjoyed our dance and several said that that was the moment they would remember. Hahaha, the Irish are so forgiving about these sorts of things!

The only thing missing was that at big Irish weddings no one clinks glasses with cutlery in order to prompt the bride and groom to kiss. I was surprised that none of the Canadian contingent got this tradition started. It might’ve changed Irish weddings forever.😉

Everyone danced and celebrated into the very wee hours. I know that I didn’t get to bed until 3 AM, and the father of the groom didn’t manage to get to bed until after 5:30 AM. Based on what I was able to see, everyone had a great time.

It took me a little longer to get this post completed than I expected, but a lot has happened in the last few days, including a big Irish gathering with about 100 guests at a local pub with a live band the day after the wedding.

I’d like to finish by wishing my parents, Ken and Glenn a wonderful 75th wedding anniversary today. We will be celebrating appropriately on our return. Mom and Dad, many warm congratulations and don’t forget to open the card that I left for you!❤️

Geoff🥳