We had a small civil marriage ceremony on August 15, 2017 in Ireland, and then on August 24, we had a second ceremony, and a big party an hour outside Barcelona, in a place called Cardona.
I had always wanted to get married abroad. Richard wasn’t too perturbed, but he went along with his wife-to-be’s wishes, because I love the sunshine, and I love being outdoors, and love being surrounded by nature.
I loved the idea of a ceremony in the sunlight, being able to have your meal and your celebrations outdoors, and then partying into the small hours in warm summer air. That was always my dream. We found this beautiful venue, La Garriga de Castelladral, which was right in the middle of a forest with mountains in the background.
We invited 110 people and I think we had 106 on the day, which probably was a big wedding, considering it was abroad. One of my friends had a baby in mid-July, and she flew over with her newborn, and two other friends had had babies within four to six months of the wedding and made the effort to come along — it was really special.
Organising a wedding abroad definitely brings an extra layer of stress. We had a wedding planner — a godsend called Sharon McMeel. She was the expert, so we followed her lead. But let’s just say, four months into the planning, the spreadsheets and me were not good friends.7
Ciara pictured in her wedding dress on her wedding day.
One of the things I did enjoy was getting my dress. I actually had my dress made, because I’m quite a fussy person — I’m a perfectionist. I tend to consider myself a relaxed person, but then I look at how I operate sometimes and I realise I’m not that relaxed after all.
I found this wonderful lady, Orlaith Carroll, in Limerick, who runs The Attic and she’s a genius. She has a beautiful bridal store, but she’s also an extremely creative and talented designer.
I showed her a dress that I absolutely loved, and she was able to make me a version of it and bring in her own ideas and design. It was strapless and it was heavily beaded, though it wasn’t heavy to wear. There was a very sheer skirt, with split up to the knee. It was airy and it very comfortable. Meeting Orlaith was one of the highlights of the planning for me.
For the flowers, we worked with Weddings Flowers by Josephine. She flew over to the venue and designed this beautiful pergola that went over the three long tables. There were baubles with lights hanging off the pergola, along with beautiful leaves and branches. It really encapsulated the vibe of being outdoors and within nature.
The flowers were mainly cream and pale pink to match the bridesmaids’ dresses, which were pink.
Richard and I flew over three days before the wedding. He always said that I told him we would go over for three days of rest, but I forgot to tell him that my family and three of my mates were flying over on the Monday, too. We were lying by the pool on the Monday afternoon and I said, ‘Oh, by the way, there are a couple of people flying in this evening, and we’re all meeting’.
The wedding party at Ciara’s destination wedding in Cardona.
On the morning of the wedding, I felt extremely excited and happy and very lucky that everybody had arrived safely and that it was everything that I had dreamed of. I felt nothing but happiness that it was all working out as I had imagined it would. People seemed to be enjoying themselves already.
We had a bluegrass band for the drinks reception after the ceremony. We had gone off to take photographs, and when we came in to join the party, we could see, when we were waiting to make our entrance, people were already up dancing.
I love speeches. For me, they’re a highlight of any wedding. I get comfortable in my chair. I give my full attention. I am there for all the stories, the love, the affection, the nostalgia, Sign me up.
It was important for me to speak. I talk every single day in my life. And for somebody who talks all of the time, it doesn’t make sense to go quiet on your wedding day. So I did get up and make my speech, and I didn’t cry, although I was very emotional.
Our first dance was to Into Your Arms, by Nick Cave, which is such a beautiful song. And then the party ramped up. I was very grateful that we were up in the mountains, in the middle of this forest, with no other humans for miles. There was nobody to tell us to keep the music down. The DJ played ’til maybe two in the morning, and I know I was still up at five in the morning.
Nobody wanted to go to bed. The only moment of the day I was sad was when I got out of my wedding dress, because I knew then that the day was finished, and I just had enjoyed it so much.
Ciara Doherty presents Newstalk Daily, a 20-minute podcast on the news story of the day, every Monday to Friday. You can listen to the podcast here or anywhere you get your podcasts.