Wedding of the Week: GAA tournament in New Zealand led to marriage

Sat, 13 Aug, 2022 - 07:00

A COUPLE who met in Christchurch, New Zealand, at a GAA tournament said their wedding vows in Cork recently.

Ger is from Ballymacowen, Clonakilty and Anna is from Solihull in Birmingham, England. They have a son, Joseph aged five, and daughter Evie, aged two.

They were engaged at home on March 1, 2019, and set the date for July 31, 2020 - but that was postponed until June 2, 2022, due to Covid.

The couple were married at Darrara Church.

They were married at Darrara Church followed by a reception at Dunmore House Hotel, Clonakilty.

The bride’s dress was from Brides of Eire, Clonakilty. Siobhan O’Mahony did make-up and Debbie from HoneyBee Hairdressers in Skibbereen did hair.

Ger’s suit and shoes all came from Red Church in Cork.

Ger and Anna O’ Donovan met in New Zealand at GAA tournament

The couple were joined by family and friends for their special day.

Anna said: “I was very fortunate to have most of my aunts and uncles, cousins and extended family over from Birmingham and London for our big day, as well as my immediate family - mom, dad, brother and sister. I also had family come from Mayo and Tipperary to join us.

“Likewise, Ger had all of his family around for the wedding also, including his parents and brother, aunts, uncles, and cousins.”

The wedding cake was by Trace of Cakes.

Their band was Arklight from Kerry, who got everyone up on the dance floor.

The couple’s first dance was to Forever And Ever, Amen by Randy Travis.

As for the most memorable thing about the day?

Anna said: “The day flies by! But the most memorable thing that stuck was seeing Evie getting her hair done (which we thought would never, ever happen! This definitely got the tears going!) and seeing Joseph for the first time at the church as he stayed with Ger the night before. Seeing him so handsome and smart took me back (as well as opening a special brooch from my granny who couldn’t make it to the day).

“The highlight for both of us was arriving to Dunmore dancing and cheering out of the sunroof of the campervan to everyone waiting for us outside on the balcony, with Kieran our driver blaring Macklemore Can’t Hold Us.

"It was brilliant! Everyone loved it, we got lots of comments on our entrance.”