Another family wedding and fun had by all

Weddings in Ireland, are something else.

We went to another cousin's wedding on Thursday. It was another all day event. Getting up early, throw on the tan and make up, and head out the door for a 1 pm wedding.
The wedding was in Bellymena at the Tullyglass Hotel. It was a gorgeous building that looked more like a large manor house than a hotel. The corridors were a maze and there seemed to be an infinite number of stairs, even though they didn't have that many rooms.

This was a mixed religious ceremony so it was more what I would call an American ceremony.  It was a justice of the peace and a shorter ceremony. It was in one of the hotel's staterooms with high ceilings and what looked like part of a church vault at the far end. So far I'd only been to Irish Catholic ceremonies and this was a little easier to sit through.

After the ceremony there was a champange reception while the couple took pictures. The bride was absolutly stunning and I loved the colors she picked out, bright pink!  The couple took a little while for pictures so I have to say there was some waiting involved next to the bar. Dinner was lovely and R and I were at a perfect table. We we surrounded by aunties and uncles and had a laugh the whole time. I forgot to mention that there were no kids invited to the wedding, so we were baby free. We had one of my very good friends down the lane watch her. At her house there are 3 boys to play with and I was told that the whole time she was there she was an angel.

After dinner the dance floor was cleared and the band came on, much dancing was involved. After the band came a small buffet and a DJ. I have to tell you, they really know how to throw a wedding party over here. We danced until the bar closed about 1:30 in the morning. Then it was off to the resident bar at the hotel for a night cap. We hadn't planned on staying out all night and R had planned to drive, but we got a call from the babysitter saying O was down for the count and wouldn't need to get picked up until the morning. We were than offered a spare bed in one of the relative's room. So we were able to really party it up.

We did the walk of shame in the morning, luckily with no hang over, but left early enough so that no one in the hotel could see me leaving at 8 in the morning with the same outfit as the night before. I was completely shatterd the next day. The worst part about the next day was the fact that on Saturday we have another big family get together for the Great's 60th wedding anniversary and I could barely make it through Friday.

Here are some pictures from the wedding.  My next blog will be about the chaos that was the Greats party.

The Wedding Party

Aren't we a cute couple

Me with my mother-in-law and my friend C

Waiting for dinner

Two Aunties

The couple cutting the cake

oíche mhaith

Cousin's Wedding

Yesterday was a long, but great day. Prep for the wedding started Friday with my friend C, treating me to an eyebrow wax and tint and fake lashes. Then Saturday morning I got up around 7:30 and started make up and at 9, cousin AB came down and curled my hair. It took over an hour to curl it all. Then we left for the ceremony at 11. The church was two hours away in Kingscourt, Ireland.

I should introduce who was getting married. One of my husband's cousin, A, was marrying an English man, N. They had met in university in England. They've been dating for at least 4 years. She is one of three girls of my mother-in-laws brother. To continue, the car ride down was pretty uneventful, except for the fact that as we got closer to the wedding the roads got really small and curvy. I got a little car sick to say the least. We got to the church just before the bride and took our seats. The ceremony was a Catholic one, so it was about an hour, but the priest was very friendly and nice. O did very good. She walked around in the corner with her little heels so she made clicking noises through most of the ceremony. Her cousin's A and R were also there so she had someone to play with. The bride was gorgeous as well as the bridal party and the church. After the ceremony everyone got to congratulate the newly married couple, then it was an hour to the Slieve Russell Hotel in Ballyconnell Ireland for the reception.

The hotel was lovely. We had wanted to stay there at night, but it was a little pricey so we all planned on coming home after the reception. We were greeted to a tea and cake snacks while the photos were taken. Then it was some family photos and dinner. The food was amazing. We had salad, soup, steak, and a wonderful dessert, followed by tea and coffee. Again O did really well snacking on some chips. We were at the same table as two of R's aunt and another lovely couple and the wee cousin's A and R.

After dinner they did the speeches, which took about an hour for all of them. Then we went outside to light flying lanterns into the sky. That was pretty funny, but some of them weren't taking off properly so we that tree and the hotel were going to be set on first. These things would be very illegal back in the States, but it's so wet here so they wouldn't start a forest fire when they landed.  The joke was that in the papers today we were going to see a destruction of a small village just a few miles away. The lanterns were followed by a band and a DJ. That's when the party really started. The older relatives said their goodbyes and everyone got their drink and dance on. My daughter is a party animal. She was one of the first on the dance floor and didn't leave until she literally passed out in her jammies dancing. She was so cute, everyone was taking pictures of her and dancing with her.

She fell asleep in a pack n'play in the corner of the room and we finally took off around 2 in the morning. With the drive home we didn't in until almost 4. So needless today, it hasn't been a very productive day.  I wish I could tell you more about it, but than it would be a very very long blog. Below are some pictures of the wedding. I took pictures of just some of the hats and fascinators for all of you. Tonight we've got Beoga's concert at Bryson's in Magherafelt which will be loads of fun, cause a lot of the cousins are coming too!

Princess O and her daddy headed into the church

The bridal party signing the papers

The front of the church



O and her cousin A all dress up.



Most, if not all of the guests.

The two of us glammed up.

I loved this hat!



Aunt M's fascinator



This lovely girl let me take a picture of her fascinator.

Another Aunt M and her fascinator

The bride and groom with all of her side of the family. Let's say my husband has alot of aunts, uncles and cousins. In fact we're missing 9 cousins.

The wedding cake. I loved the marzipan. The African theme came from where they got engage. N had taken A down to Africa to propose to her. The table names were also names of animals from Africa.



The flying lanterns



Uncle A's lantern

The three stooges. Uncle A, my husband R and Uncle L. Can you see the family resemblance?

Us together. R giving his best blue steel.

O booging away

4 generations. The greats are in the middle and us with the in-laws.

The babe passed out with all the music and people. She didn't wake up when we transferred her to the car until we got to a quiet area.

oíche mhaith