Ireland/Scotland Trip - Day 4 The Irish Wedding
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| The ribbon used in the knot tying ceremony has their married name and initials. |
Ok, so staying up until 5am is not always the best idea when traveling. You spend all sorts of money to get over here only to be too tired to do the things you have planned. But lucky for me, the only thing we had planned was to get ready for the 4pm wedding that was steps from the Dairy that we were staying in. We did consider driving the hour to Kilkenny, do some shopping and visiting the castle but it was pouring rain all morning. The four of us all got up, had breakfast then went back and took a three hour nap. It was glorious because the rain pitter patted on the roof, the sheep were dotting the fields out my window and I was able to catch up on lost sleep and rid myself of any remaining jetlag.
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| Entering the chapel. There were candles tucked into nooks in the walls even. |
At about 3:15 we got up and started getting ready for the ceremony. The 11 of us not getting married gathered in the little chapel like area. My cousin and her fiance made beautiful choices from the music, to the decor to the poems and speeches. They did some very Celtic and ancient ceremonies including "tying the knot" with a beautiful handmade rope. The whole thing took just under an hour. Then we all filed back out, walked around the corner and back into the "She Been" which has a massive fireplace at one end and a bar at the other. Champagne was opened and we had some yummy passed appetizers. There was lamb meatballs with tzatziki sauce, little hamburger sliders and some goat cheese and caramelized onion tart.
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| Lighting candle ceremony. |
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| The vows. |
After some socializing, lots of toasts and champagne sips, we went and had dinner in the glass enclosed room opposite the house from the one we had tea and breakfast in.
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| The dinner table |
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| I had the pancetta wrapped chicken but lamb was an option as well. |
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| There was scalloped potatoes as well. |
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| The creamed spinach was particularly good. Too bad I was so full most of the time! |
The hired band set up and started playing some traditional Irish music. We all took various photos with the bride and groom then the awesome band played a lovely rendition of True Colors for the first dance. They next played what they called a "Fodder Dodder" song for the father-daughter dance.
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| First dance of the bride and groom |
Once the formal dances were over we had such a great time with the excellent band. They played trad Irish songs that we all knew and they also led us in some roaring good dances. Some people had a bit more to drink than others and it became apparent when we were trying to follow the new-to-us dance steps which made everything even more fun. I do not have one decent photo of the band because I was so busy dancing to them. If you are reading this blog in search of a wedding venue and you choose Ballybeg House....you must ask T, the host, about the band she recommends because they were just wonderful.
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| The best photo I have of the band from the wedding. |
The band played until just after 10:30 that night. The "younger" ones of us used the outdoor hot tub then played more Cards Against Humanity (which I failed at miserably, I guess I do not have my finger on the pulse of the kids of today?) all night. I made it to bed at the much earlier hour of 3am this time!
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