I really miss having the day off for Paddy’s Day and think Ryan and I will have to make a habit of taking it off in future so we can watch the parade together and celebrate wherever it is that we are.

I’m wearing my green shirt today and plan to take a trip to the market in Cambridge to pick up a nice big Irish flag on my lunch hour and some green bits and pieces to adorn the house (and possibly Ryan – you’ve been warned!).

We’re having friends of of ours, Laura and Justin, over for a great big Irish feast this evening and apart from that we decided to get together (in a virtual sense) with mum, dad and Conor to have a bit of an Irish dance. Happy St. Patrick’s Day everyone and enjoy the video!

I didn’t really have much time to take photos at the wedding but Ryan was on video duty for the day so we have some great moments captured on camera and will be uploading some of them very soon. I’ve borrowed a couple of photos from facebook of the beautiful bride and handsome groom, and of the two bridesmaids.

And just for the sake of comparison I thought you might like to see the toilet paper wedding dress we designed for Claire on the hen weekend back in January. Personally I think it stands up pretty well against the real thing.

It was great to catch up with all the hens again and one of my favourite moments was being on the dance floor with all the girls and finally getting to reveal to Claire the truth behind the “archery incident”, i.e. the day Claire thought she’d been shot at for real with a bow and arrow.

I think I’ve learned a lot more about Claire from spending so much time over the past few months with her close friends and family and that’s something I will treasure for the rest of my life. That’s one of the real beauties of weddings for me – getting everyone important in your life to gather round and to celebrate being connected to each other. And we certainly celebrated until the wee hours of the morning in Trim Castle Hotel that night. Great music, great company and an incredible couple.

As for James, I really feel like I’ve welcomed him into my own family if that makes sense, and it was really wonderful to get to know his family in the run up to the wedding.

The day after the wedding was just as much fun as the day itself. We all went over to the Conneely house, Paddy cooked up a storm, we relaxed, chatted and had a fantastic sing song with friends and family giving it their all. It was the perfect way to finish off the weekend and to send the newly-weds off on their travels.

Congratulations Claire and James!

I’m so glad I was back in Dublin in the run up to Claire and James’ wedding, to share in the excitement and last-minute preparations for their very special day. It’s hard to believe it’s over 3 weeks ago now and they’re on the last stages of their honeymoon in Argentina as I write.

We had a busy few days of dress alterations, shopping for the honeymoon, getting our nails done and of course plenty of girlie get-togethers before the big day itself. And then before we knew it Saturday the 21st of February rolled around and we were all at the Conneely house beautifying ourselves and just having a good oul giggle during the various stages of getting ready.

Claire was the absolute picture of calmness, although we all started getting a bit more emotional as the time came for her and her daddy to set off for the church in a very stylish green Rolls Royce.

Claire and James chose to have their wedding ceremony at the chapel of our old secondary school in Cabra, St. Dominic’s. It reminded me of all the good times we had playing together for graduations and school masses, and it made me all the more proud to walk down the aisle with Claire’s sister Niamh and her little niece Caoilainn ahead of such a beautiful bride and truly special friend.