"It wasn’t the wedding either of us imagined but it turned out to be far better than that"
A defiant couple from Johnstown who feared that coronavirus would cancel their dream wedding decided to take matters into their own hands and rearranged their 240 guest affair for an intimate secret ceremony with just 13 close family members in just 72 hours!
Newlyweds Siobhan Daly and Jack Conroy’s big day was due to take place on March 27th and was to be seen by a long list of family and friends but fears the coronavirus crisis would prevent them from getting hitched spurred them to bring it forward and have an impromptu wedding they or their guests would never forget.
Despite Siobhan’s parents in law who are in the high risk category not being able to attend and the restaurant where they were having their post wedding meal along with hair and make up both cancelling the day before the Kilkenny native describes the day as ‘magical,’
The couple say they have local businesses to thank for’ pulling out all of the stops’ in helping them get everything together in such a short time frame.
Social distancing at its finest: Siobhan Daly and Jack Conroy's wedding
"It wasn’t the wedding either of us imagined but it turned out to be far better than that,” said hat designer Siobhan.
“I loved every minute of it, it was so personal, it was so lovely. It was hard that there were no hugs, my parents didn’t get to hug us and say congratulations or I didn’t get to hug my sisters in law but we made the most of it.
“Guests sat with the person they came with and they sat apart from other guests.
“Social distancing was really practised. My dad didn’t even get to shake Jack’s hand at the top of the aisle, there were no speeches there was no first dance!
“We didn’t go for dinner afterwards because the restaurant cancelled the day before so my mam made dinner for us that evening and I sat watching Claire Byrne broadcasting from her shed in self isolation with my wedding dress still on!
"Neither of us was fussed about having a large wedding - it was just important to us that we got married. We’ll have a blessing and a shindig after all this has blown over.
Siobhan describes the lead up to the drastic action she and husband Jack from Skyrne were forced to take.
The happy couple said 'I do' with just 13 guests present
"I was keeping a very good eye on the situation here, and I thought we weren’t going to make it to March 27th.
“So then on Wednesday March 11th the night before Leo Varadkar announced a number of restrictions around social gatherings we started talking about moving it to a different date.
“We wanted to get married. Neither of us was prepared to put it off and we are so glad we did.
“We decided going to sleep that night that I was going to ring the parish centre the next day and see could the priest marry us sooner.
“I rang the parish centre on the Thursday and came up with 4pm on Monday the 16th to get married and we didn’t tell anybody because we kind of thought look if we get to the 27th and things hadn’t changed we’ll have our celebration and have what we were planning to have.
“Then I organised hair and make up here locally and I rang a restaurant in Kilkenny to see if they could fit us in for a meal.
“So then the scramble really began to try and figure out how we were going to make this work.
“The priest Fr Roderick Whearty said he would marry us so the first thing I had to do was go to the registrar’s office on the Trim Road in the Enterprise Centre.
“I barely made it over before 4pm but the staff member there said don’t worry I’ll stay and I’ll get you sorted.
Siobhain has prasied many Meath businesses who went the extra mile to ensure the big day went ahead
“The suits were bought in Pat O’ Byrnes Menswear in Trim. We rang them on the Friday to see if the suits would be ready for the next day and they said if they needed any alterations they would do them there and then.
“Bakealicious were doing the cake and I rang Eimear to ask if she could do any kind of a small cake in an emergency for me on Monday and she said no problem.
“I went in to Julieanne in Gloss and said please do my nails and I was one of the last people she saw before she closed.
“I obviously had my wedding dress but because we were still hoping that the 27th might happen I didn’t want to wear it.
“I got a gorgeous dress in Zara for seventy euro. It needed to be altered so I went to the Zip yard here in Navan and I brought it into them and they had it ready for me the next morning.
“That’s five Meath businesses that if they hadn’t rallied around us, wouldn’t have been what it was.
The day did not go without the odd hiccup however as Siobhan explains:
The newlyweds intend to have their second wedding next year!
“Unfortunately the day before the wedding the hair and make up cancelled and the restaurant cancelled. Then I thought is the priest going to cancel as well!
“Also on the Sunday, Jack’s parents who would be in the at risk category they rang and said that they weren’t going to come, I was devastated for him.
“I hadn’t cried once over this until we got that phone call.
“I rang the priest at 9am on the nose on the Monday morning and it wasn’t until he said yeah that’s fine I’ll see you at 4 that I knew for sure if we were getting married that day!
“My dad drove me to the church. There were 13 people there and we got married.
“Jack’s brother in law set up zoom in the church and Jack’s parents were on a laptop in the front row so they got to see it all.
“Jack drove me home and my mam cooked a lovely dinner.
“We have postponed our wedding now until March 16th 2020 so basically it will be our first anniversary and we are going to do the celebration as a mark of the survival of coming through all of this and what a celebration it will be… and I will wear the dress then!”