‘We’ve had the same friend group since school, so it was a big celebration’

We got married on September 8, 2023, in Adare in Co Limerick. We’re both from Limerick. Declan is from Adare parish and I’m from a neighbouring parish, called Kilcornan. We got married in the local church in Adare and had the afters in Adare Manor. We are so lucky to have one of the most incredible hotels in the world on our doorstep.

It was a big wedding. Look, it was local, so it was always going to be big, and then, of course, Declan plays GAA, and with all GAA weddings come big numbers. And we both come from big Irish families, and family is important to us. Because we met so young, we have had the same friend group since school, so it was a really big celebration.

We wanted to keep as much as we could local. For us, we thought it would be lovely to have a real Limerick wedding in every sense, to be able to say that everything — from the flowers to the bands — is from Limerick.

When picking a date, you can be limited when it comes to inter-county hurling and club hurling, especially with the split season. You’ve only got a few weeks to choose from. I love August and September, and we were lucky that we got a week where there weren’t that many matches; it was a break between the county and the club season. Also, my parents got married on September 7, so that worked out nicely.

Louise Cantillon and her husband Declan with Danny from The Coronas.

The maddest thing of all was the weather. It was 28C. Neither Declan nor I like the sun. We’re as pale as you go. So, it was just hilarious. We got married on the warmest day of the year. At one point, the hotel rang me and asked if we wanted them to set up sunscreen stations! It was mad.

I had a stunning dress, which was made by Helen Cody, a Dublin-based designer. I actually found the whole idea of finding a dress so hard, because there are so many stunning options, I couldn’t choose at all. So, I worked with Helen, and I enjoyed that so much. I went all out; there were ostrich feathers, bows, and everything. I loved it so much.

The day was so hot that I was lucky I had my hair up in a high bun, away from my neck and face, as I was sweating. I also had a long cathedral veil and long opera gloves, which I had to ditch early on, as well.

The night before the wedding, we brought all our immediate family to Adare Manor for the night. We had a beautiful meal at 1826 in Adare village and then went back to the hotel. We had a great night, and it was lovely to have that time together with just our families. 

Louise Cantillon and Declan Hannon with their wedding guests.

Then, we all woke up in the hotel the next morning. And, actually, we had our photographs taken on the morning before the ceremony, because we didn’t want to miss a minute of the party later.

The church in Adare is beautiful; it’s a big old church. It’s so sentimental when you can get married in the village you grew up in; it does feel special. Lots of people from the area came out to see us at the church — neighbours and local teachers. And there were primary school girls from the school next door, who came to see us, and that was very sweet.

Louise Cantillon and her husband Declan on their wedding day.

One of my biggest memories was arriving to the church and walking up the aisle. My best friend, Maria, actually sang me up the aisle. She sang a lovely old sean nós song, called Casadh an tSúgáin. I was completely overcome. I found it really emotional. We had a bilingual ceremony. Father Chris O’Donnell is a local priest, and he did the mass bilingually.

Then, we went back to the hotel, and we had a six-piece brass band, called Coded Behaviour, that were unbelievable. For the drinks reception, we had oysters and jazz on the lawn. I’d met a lovely couple from Sligo — who source and sell oysters — a few weeks previous. They were telling me they were taking their oysters to Slane Castle to go backstage for Harry Styles. I thought, ‘If they’re good enough for Harry Styles!’ It was amazing; they brought oysters down to Limerick for us!

Louise Cantillon and her husband Declan on their wedding day.

After the meal and the speeches, which we kept nice and short, the music started. Danny O’Reilly, from the Coronas, who was at the wedding anyway, sang our first dance song with my friend Maria. They did a beautiful cover of the Cranberries’ song Linger. It was so special.

Danny sang another few songs, and then we had a lovely local band, called Free Beer; the main singer is a Gaeilgóir from Connemara. They did a lovely mix of English and Irish tunes. At one stage, we had a full-on céilí.

After the band and the DJ, we had another couple of hours of a sing-song. No one wanted to be the first to go to bed. I think we got around an hour or two of sleep! It was an absolute dream of a few days. I feel like we danced from the morning we woke up on the wedding day until two days later!

Louise Cantillon is on Today FM every weekday between 12pm and 2pm.