Colette & Daran - Lough Rynn Castle

In the past, meetings of Mayo & Meath generally took place in Croke Park, and invariably involved a giant schemozzle with red & yellow cards getting thrown around like confetti. Despite the presence of Mayo footballing legend Cora Staunton in the bridal party there were no late tackles from the Royals at Collette & Daran's wedding.

Indeed, the story of their meeting was told during the marriage ceremony. Like the journey to Croke Park, it took a while, with a few stumbles along the way before they finally met on a date with the encouragement of mutual friends. From that moment on, their names were on the cup and it was inevitable that we'd all get a big day out to celebrate their wedding.

My run of good luck with the winter weather finally ran out, as by the time we got back to Lough Rynn, the storm clouds were gathering overhead. We braved a run down to the gardens, but no sooner had we got there than the heavens opened. Noting was going to dampen Collette & Daran's spirits though, and with the blazing fire in the Baronial Hall, everyone warmed up again pretty quickly. It always helps to have Eamon's from Big Apple on hand to lighten the mood with his wisecracks too.