The honeymoon (Part 1) - Aruba

What can I say about Aruba, other than wow! After the stresses and strains of the previous few weeks the R&R in Aruba felt incredible. We knew we would be tired after it - having been told by friends how it was for them - but it's not until you are in that position yourself until you realise how much you crash.

We stayed in the low rise area of the island in the Bucuti Beach and Tara Suites resort. The 'modest' room looked like this...

The view from the balcony was pretty impressive also. Not too far to go to the loungers (or the beach bar - to the left).We made some interesting friends in Aruba, although Lynne didn't appreciate the company during meal times!!
We got over it though and always managed to relax during the afternoon happy hour, with a cocktail or four...

Photo time

Our photographer on the day was Philip Daly and he did an amazing job. He ticked all the boxes we had in terms of how a photographer should operate. In particular, he never obstructed proceedings and took some amazing shots which we didn't even notice.
See for yourself with the online slide show of the day which he posted.

The Hen: Dingle

The first piece of evidence from Dingle appeared on Facebook today, with much more to follow I'm sure! The girls had a great weekend, tearing up the town and tormenting the local gentlemen.

Roll of honour: Lynne, Joy, Carol, Kat, Susan, Deirdre, Paula, Laura, Mary, Tara, Aoife and Mary-Anne

Hen and Stag Mayhem

So we are back in Cork this weekend trying to wrap up some of the finer details. In addition we will be distracted (no doubt) by Lynne's hen, which is stopping in Dingle for two nights before finishing in Cork on Sunday, and my Cork stag which will be a modest one night affair in Douglas.
Watch this space for the photographic evidence next week...

Only 25 days to go.....

.....and still so much to do. aaagggghhhh!

From Cork to Rosscarbery

For anyone with a bit of extra time on their hands returning to the city on the Sunday after the wedding, I definitely advise taking the back road via Kinsale. For those of you who don't know it there are some stunning views (much better than this shot shows)

The road also provides some good driving with lots of long sweeping bends like this one...

Note the looming black clouds - par for the course, sadly

As you leave Clonakilty you will be turning right onto the R600, and after 35 minutes or so you can reward yourself with a cold drink in Kinsale.

Top table introductions

Not everyone will know everyone else on October 4th, of course. But by way of introduction I thought we'd introduce some of the top table for those of you who need it.

The parents have already been introduced here, so we'll look at some of the other main protagonists.

The bride's side:

Joy, the Maid of Honour. Joy is the second of the three O'Sullivan girls.

Carol (left) is the baby of the O'Sullivan house and Kat is Paul's only sibling.
Seen here pre-dress fitting!

The groom's side:

Best men 1 and 2, Benny and Gearoid, enjoy the views at the Alex in Clapham...

... and the third protagonist, Dave!

The Stag (part 1)

Just recovered from a magic weekend in Berlin. Not going into any details but here is a photo showing what a civil weekend it was.

On the roll of honour: John, Dave, Benny, Gearoid, Cian, Murph, Rich, Gaz, Tim, Phil, Bubbles, Omar, Aidan, Niall and Will.
It's the girls turn next!

Wedding stationery

For anyone getting married and looking for invitations I would highly recommend checking out Debbie Jenkins website. Debbie runs a hand-made invitations business from her home in Wales and the final product is excellent. See for yourself...Debbie and her team are a pleasure to deal with and Lynne and I would like to say thanks for a job well done.

Hotel rooms

Hi all,

Most of you will now have received your invites and may be wondering about booking your accommodation for the night.

One of the rooms at the Celtic Ross

At present I have the rooms block-booked so please contact me to confirm your room. I'll deal with the hotel. Otherwise you can wait for about another week, when I will be releasing any unreserved rooms. At that point you can contact the hotel direct.
Thanks.

The Boogie Band

The music for the wedding is going to be great. We have been lucky enough to secure the services of The Boogie Band, who we have seen and enjoyed in the past. For more info, check out their website here.

Bit too geeky?

For anyone using Sat Nav, the GPS coordinates for the hotel are: 9.03 West & 51.576 North

Cork City

There will be a few strangers to Cork attending the wedding (although not many) so I wanted to add a note on Cork City for anyone coming in the day before or making a weekend of it.

First of all the airport. Only ten minutes from the city centre, Cork airport is very city access friendly. Ryanair and Aer Lingus are the main carriers coming in with 6-7 flights a day from London, as well as links to other parts of Ireland, the UK and mainland Europe.Cork City is in the south of Ireland and the main city is an island. The link will bring you to the Irish tourist board site which gives a good account of things to see and do. And there are plenty of places to stay both in and around town.
The Honan Chapel is on the UCC campus, which is just off the bottom left corner of this map. The trip from the city to the Celtic Ross Hotel is about an hour and ten minutes by car (51 miles). If you have tie on your hands going via Kinsale along the coast road is a stunning spin.

Staying nearby

In addition to the Celtic Ross Hotel there are a couple of other accommodation options in Rosscarbery.

Celtic Cottages are based a short walk (4-5 minutes approx) from the hotel and offer accommodation to groups of up to six. Prices range from €45-70 per head for the night, depending on how many share. For more information and booking details, go to http://www.celticcottages.ie.

There are also a number of B&B's within striking distance.

Name - Proprietor - Distance - Phone
Ethan House - Ms. O'Donovan - 0.15 mile - 00353-234-8795
Clybee Patricia - MacCurtain - 0.15 mile - 00353-86-8916663
Kilcor - Mary O'Donovan - 0.25 mile - 00353-233-1793

Others available on request. Contact us by comment or by email: yednnek@gmail.com or lyn_uli@yahoo.com.

Party Time

Once we had seen the hotel and booked the church we thought it was time to have a few drinks with some friends and family - about 150 thereof!! Here a few photos of the night.

The rowdy crew in the corner...

...and the centre!

Martin conducts the O'Sullivan gang...

...while Lynne catches up on the latest gossip. And the Kennedy men are found at the bar!!

The planning begins

Easter '07 saw us travel back to Cork to start planning the big day. The first job was to choose venues for the ceremony and reception.

We first met at UCC and had some great years on campus so the Honan Chapel seemed like the perfect location for our wedding.

Chapel of St Finn Barr - "Honan Chapel"

Next was the reception venue. A number of places were in the running, but ultimately the Celtic Ross in Rosscarbery won hands down.

With surroundings like this,
why would we need to look anywhere else?

Birthday in NYC

The next day after some 'shopping' the gloves were discarded - in spite of the freezing winds!

In the beginning...

The overall journey started a long time ago, but this chapter began in New York City on a very cold February 10th, 2007. Fifteen months on and we're counting down the days....

Yes, on the 86th floor!