Wedding of the Week: Cork artists wed in an intimate ceremony 

EVEN though we are so different... we seem to work! So says Christabel Geary, who wed James McCann in an intimate wedding at Hayfield Manor.

They are both artists from Cork, who work on art projects in their spare time. Christabel is an English teacher and James is a careworker.

James is from St Luke’s and Christabel is from Oysterhaven. They lived in Glasgow for two years and studied at the Glasgow School of Art, before they started a family. They now live in Belgooly. They have one toddler, Fionn, and baby Iarla, who is almost three months old.

The couple met nearly nine years ago, they both went to the Crawford Art college.

“Sting played in Cork in 2013, I remember him playing an acoustic guitar in the Sin e and we popped the head in to see him. I lived up in Sunday’s Well at the time, James walked me back home and at the top of the hill we kissed. I remember feeling the passion from that embrace.

“Even though we are very different, we seem to work. 

"My mum Carmel made a speech at our wedding and she made the analogy of a tree. James being the trunk so stable and strong and myself being the branches and the leaves, spontaneous and free spirited we felt it was a nice reflection on our relationship.”

James proposed in West Cork near Ahakista, in June, 2018. They planned to wed in June, 2020, but the pandemic hit. They wed in a small ceremony and reception on December 9, 2020, in The Hayfield Manor in an inter-faith civil ceremony, Kathyrn Cashman was the celebrant.

The bride got her dress in Say I Do in Midleton and crown piece and earrings from Azure Jewellery on George’s Quay. She gave a special mention to bridal seamstress Maya O’Brien’s alterations on Academy Street, who did an incredible job on her dress — which she wore, at seven months pregnant.

They had just their immediate family present, James’s family, dad Leo, mum Jo and brother Tom. On Christabel’s side there was dad Vincent, mum Carmel, brother Aaron and his girlfriend. They missed all their extended family and friends, but hope to have a big party in future.

Christabel said: “The ceremony was so special, my mum Carmel Geary rang the bell to open the sacred space, Jo (James’s mum) read a beautiful reading from the bible, my brother Aaron played Blackbird by the Beatles and Paddy’s Green Shamrock Shore and as always he’s a legend of a musician. 

"Fionn brought the rings up the aisle, we could feel the love in the room. Having a tiny wedding with just your immediate family was so magical.”