Wedding of the Week: Cork couple who went to national school together marry

A COUPLE who went to national school together were married in a beautiful ceremony abroad.

Ciara Hegarty and Finbarr O’Shaughnessy, both from Grenagh, first met at Rathduff National School.

They feature in this week's Wedding of the Week.

Ciara recalls how they were engaged on New Year’s Eve, their anniversary.

Fin had decorated an arch way in our gardens with candles and petals and proposed just before 12, and we celebrated with our friends and family with a fireworks display.

They were married in Tenerife on 09/09/23, in Finca. The bride said: “We have always loved Tenerife and I’ve been going since I was a child. It holds a special place in my heart so it made sense to have our wedding there.

“We viewed many hotels and wedding venues, but once we visited Finca Cañada Verde we knew it was the one for us. It’s actually a working banana plantation that caters for weddings and you have complete creative design, which suited me as it was a blank canvas and I could make it my own. I did this with the help of my amazing wedding planner, Helen from @licandroweddings.”

The bride’s dress was Galia Lahav, shoes were Jimmy Choo, and accessories were @meganthereacouture. The men’s suits were from Gentleman’s Quarters in Cork.

The bride’s hair was by best friend Rachel McNamara - @rachelmc_hair - who works in hairbyzara in Blarney. Make-up was by @makeupbysarmite.

Recalling the special day, Ciara said: “We had family come from all over to celebrate with us, some even made the journey from Australia.

“We had over 100 guests and every single person enjoyed it and said they could really feel the love and happiness on the day.”

Recalling a special moment during the ceremony, the bride said: “Just before we were pronounced married, a butterfly flew around myself and Fin . Everyone said it was so beautiful and it was a sign from a loved one who was with us on the day.”

Ciara said the entertainment really stood out on the day. “We had a violinist and singer at our ceremony, a sax player at cocktail hour. After dinner, we had a special surprise for our guests, a Spanish carnival come in and danced and they brought everyone to the dance floor which really got the party started. We also had a bongo player and sax later for a power hour.

I wouldn’t change my wedding for the world, I’m so glad we decided to travel and everyone said they had the best time. The weather was beautiful and our guests enjoyed the week-long celebration of our love with memories to last a lifetime.