Friday, 25 September 2020

Getting Married During a Pandemic - Mairead & Kieran's Real Wedding

Getting Married During a Pandemic - Mairead & Kieran's Real Wedding

It isn't easy, but if you want to make it possible, the wedding team here at Fernhill will support you every step of the way. For anyone planning a wedding in the coming months, here are some words of encouragement from one of our lovely brides 'at the end of the day, a wedding is about standing up and declaring your love'. 



Mairead & Kieran met on Tinder. A friend of Mairead's was playing matchmaker and convinced her to put 'looking for a plus one' in her bio. Friends spent an evening swiping on her behalf and then a message came in from Kieran with the pick up line: 'Please tell me you're not one of those people who clap when the plane lands'. Mairead wasn't going to reply until she saw that Kieran was wearing a Clermont-Ferrand scarf in his photo which shocked Mairead as this was where she had spent her erasmus andso she decided to reply. It turned out Kieran was also looking for a plus one!

Kieran did indeed end up being Mairead's plus one to the wedding back in July of 2017. The tables were named after fishing ports and their table was the Ballycotton table which highly amused Mairead & Kieran as Kieran was from there.

Mairead tells us that the proposal was let out of the bag the night before it happened when Kieran was on the phone to his Mum & Mairead overheard 'if she says yes, stop in on Sunday'. It didn't let Kieran change his plans though & Mairead had convinced herself that Kieran wouldn't go through with it as it would want to surprise her, but he did! He still blew Mairead away when English born Kieran proposed in Irish (Mairead is an Irish teacher) in the Italian Garden on Garnish Island, and even more still once she found out her parents had known for 2 months and had kept the secret.

Mairead & Kieran had originally planned for a large wedding and when the pandemic hit friends and family had suggested postponing. But they decided from early on that even if it was just themselves & two witnesses that they were going to go ahead and get married, anyone extra would be a bonus. Mairead explains: ' This was a difficult decision for us as our guest list was about 270 but we stuck to our guns. At the end of the day, a wedding is about standing up and declaring your love, it isn't about a big party.' Mairead and Kieran's wedding day was a complete family affair. Her dad surmised after the wedding 'that it was so lovely to see all the cousins laughing and dancing together, to see them all in one place for a joyous occasion.' Due to the restrictions in place Mairead & Kieran planned a two day event, day one with their family and day two was a lovely BBQ in our garden marquee with their friends to celebrate the occasion. 'Only thing to change really due to restrictions was the number of guests but over the two days we got the opportunity to celebrate with immediate family and close friends.' 

We asked Mairead what had Fernhill the right choice for them: 'We had ruled out some hotels as we had hoped for a venue with grounds that guests could stroll around. We fell in love with Fernhill from the moment we viewed. We both loved the Irish signage and the marquee with the surrounding gardens was just so idyllic and picturesque, we couldn't imagine going anywhere else. It fitted for us immediately.' 

Mairead advice for anyone currently planning their wedding ' the biggest advice we have is to do things your way. Don't let people interfere or let their ideas overcloud what you envisioned for your big day.'


The lovely couple had planned on going to the Maldives but instead took a road trip through Kerry with a stop off in Adare Manor and said that 'they had the best time. Ireland had so much on offer, there is no need to travel abroad on honeymoon.'

A huge thank you to Mairead & Kieran for offering their words of advice. It was a pleasure to host your wedding here at Fernhill. We wish you both every happiness & look forward to seeing you both again in the future.

Church: St. Brigid's, Ballydehob

Photographer: Davitt Vaughan