The session!

So was that the end!!!

Not at all, this was an Irish Wedding and they sure know how to party!!
In true style it continued for most of the next day.

All the guests who were still around were invited to 'a session' in the hotel on Sunday hosted by The Canniffe Family. Our new extended family members sure are talented, Tony, Mary,Tim and Dermot have two CD's under their belt already. They play a plethora of instruments and all sing.

They started off singing in the car on long journeys. What do the sing ..well this is a quote from their website :-

"The Canniffe Family sing and play songs and tunes from the Irish music tradition. This has not stopped them from also playing Scottish, Cajun or Bluegrass music however. People have been trying to put a label on them for years - "Fun" seems to be the most appropriate word."

They certainly had Lindsay and friend Jenny in tears of laughter....so that's what wedding hankies are really for!!


We had such a good time and didn't want the weekend ever to end. The session started at noon and by 6pm there were still 35 people singing their hearts out.
Guest singers and musicians from all over Great Britain, Germany, Canada, New York.

We ended with Auld Lang Syne sung like I have never heard it before.

And that really was it!!!

Their latest CD 'Rise Again' is highly recommended. Click on the link at the side of this blog to visit the Canniffe Family website. or go straight to www.thecanniffefamily.com

What a difficult task this has been...there were so many more photos I wanted to show ....I have at least 700 from family and friends and we haven't even seen the official photos yet nor the videos. Treats still to come. I hope I have not bored you all.

Wedding dance

Traditionally the happy couple dance the first dance at the evening reception and Dermot and Lindsay had been practising a salsa routine. The dress had to undergo serious structural engineering to produce a shorter dress that she wouldn't trip over..This had been a major challenge in the choice of the dress and it didn't let us down and neither did they. They were magnificent!!

Reception and cake decorations

Lindsay looked like a Princess as she stepped out of the wedding car at the hotel.


The Hotel was the Connemara Coast Hotel and was spectacular. On the edge of Galway bay overlooking the Aran islands with it's own private foreshore and viewing area with a japanese bridge it was a photographers heaven.




Jackie,had given her a bobbin lace horseshoe and this caused quite a commotion when it dropped from her wrist and slipped thro the bars of the japanese bridge in to the lily pond. Attempts to retrieve it finally succeeded with her dad hanging over the edge at full stretch. Was that an added bit of luck!!

The speeches were so funny that the only the only tears shed that day were of laughter. Alan got off to a good start and had everyone laughing to be followed by the Bride and Groom and grooms father before the best man got a look in. We were all amused that the two lads used their PDA's to hold their notes, technology gets everywhere!!


All I had to do was sit back and enjoy it all!


Horseshoe looks as good as new and the Wedding Bears and Micro the mouse in his wedding outfit enjoy the occasion!




Time for the cake, those fuchsias round it's sides thanks to Ellen. the ring and the horseshoe on the top came from our wedding cake and the Wedding Mice are an original creation of my talented daughter. Here she is putting the finishing touches to them.

Wedding Ceremony

The Wedding Ceremony was just lovely. It was held in the Chapel of Saint Columbanus, a newish Catholic Chapel on the University of Galway Campus. Very simple but with lots of stained glass windows. Apart from a few chairs with backs the seating comprised square, padded stools on castors that could be arranged in many different ways.



One thing that stood out about the service is the music, so much music and nary a hymn in sight, twas all traditional style music.
Dermot composed a Canticle for his bride which was sung in Irish by her canadian friend Ellen a fabulous soprano, one of these days I may get to find out what it all meant!

His father also composed the Epithalamium (a traditional nuptual song for the morning of the wedding - typically when the bride is leaving her father's house). His father played the guitar one instrument out of his repertoire and both mother and father sang. What a talented family she is marrying into, nice too!! More friends played violin and others sang.



The ceremony contained some of my favorite bits, like the lighting of the candles. Bride and groom each light a candle before the marriage vows and later they take a light from their own candle and light a single unity candle.



That ring pillow gave up it's load...eventually.



This was the moment as he left the church when Dermot suddenly realised what he had done!!!



Confetti flew like snow as they left for the reception!

Fuchsia jewellery

The Bridesmaids wore vibrant plum colour and for them the fuchsia earrings or pendant were in true fuchsia colours.





Fuchsia magellanica is one of the most common hedgerow plants in Cork and right now it's flowering it's socks off.

Estelle did such a marvellous job. The sepals can even be bent up or down, depending on how one likes to wear them....and.. I was lucky enough to be given a pair too.

Those fuchsias got everywhere, they are even in the bouquet.

My outfit

Yes I know I haven't shown you her dress yet...wait for it!

What did I wear...very important!!
Well 'twas a beaded top and chiffon trousers with lots of input from me on the accessories... that was the fun bit. I dyed the silk chiffon scarf to match.. yes it was amazing that I got it right, but what a messy job it was, had to make a huge frame to pin it to....then beaded it to match. Also beaded the handbag to match and made a bracelet and earrings to match the murano glass necklace she gave me.


But the best bit was making a feather headpiece a 'fascinator'. This was my second attempt at making one (show you the other one later) and was a challenge. It was designed round three tatted Epidendrum Orchids in Burgundy Flora 20 and Light Gold Kreinick very fine braid.
The pattern is from Toni Storer's 'A Tatted Bouquet of Orchids', what a fab designer she is.
Lots of feathers and crystals and I felt like a film star!!!

WEdding hair and decorations

Wow, I can't believe that the wedding was a month ago. Life has only just settled back into 'normality' whatever that is.
So a few posts about the wedding are needed. First things first.... what did we wear.
Lindsay looked absolutely stunning, well I would say that wouldn't I ? Aren't all brides beautiful, yes but this was MY bride!
Her hair looked so amazing even the hairdresser wanted a photographic record! Trimmed with little bits of ivy and tatted dimpled ring flowers and the addition of two beaded fuchsias.
What would you give to have hair like that!

Remember the wedding theme was fuchsias ? well a great friend Estelle who lives in Virginia designed and made beaded fuchsias, what a talent. Lindsay had fuchsia earrings and a necklace in ivory with opal swarovskis, really something.


The dress was very simple and elegant, a beaded corset type top, laced at the back and a slim fishtail skirt with box pleats at sides and back trimmed with beaded panels.