{"id":116987,"date":"2025-11-02T02:42:10","date_gmt":"2025-11-02T02:42:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/116987\/"},"modified":"2025-11-02T02:42:10","modified_gmt":"2025-11-02T02:42:10","slug":"halloween-vows-are-a-dream-come-true-for-cork-based-couple","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/116987\/","title":{"rendered":"Halloween vows are ‘a dream come true’ for Cork-based couple"},"content":{"rendered":"

SAYING their “I do’s” at Halloween was \u201ca dream come true\u201d for this Cork-based couple, according to bride Clara Donnelly.<\/p>\n

Clara and her bridegroom Dmytro Bykovskyy were married this time last year at Ballygarry Estate Hotel & Spa, Tralee, Co Kerry.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"ClaraClara Donnelly and Dmytro Bykovskyy. Pictures: Black Diamond Photography <\/p>\n

\u201cI have always been a big fan of Halloween \u2014 even more than Christmas \u2014 between dressing up for the occasion and seeing the dragon on Shandon Street [the 36-foot Samhain dragon that leads a night-time parade in Cork] to watching Beetlejuice, The Nightmare Before Christmas and Hocus Pocus,\u201d says Clara.<\/p>\n

Although the bride, from Listry, Co Kerry, and the groom, who is originally from Lithuania and spent his early childhood in Ukraine before settling in Cork, both studied at the Institute of Technology in Tralee they did not meet until both moved to Cork.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"ClaraClara Donnelly and Dmytro Bykovskyy. Pictures: Black Diamond Photography <\/p>\n

\u201cWe first exchanged long conversations on Bumble,\u201d says Clara. \u201cOur first date started with sushi in Wasabi, then coffee, then Baracadia for some video games and a disastrous game of pool.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

Dmytro popped the question on December 5, 2021, on Knockomagh Hill overlooking Lough Hyne in West Cork and three years later they were wed by humanist celebrant Denis Hobson.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"ClaraClara Donnelly and Dmytro Bykovskyy with their son Bram. Pictures: Black Diamond Photography <\/p>\n

Clara chose her sister Irene Donnelly to be her maid of honour and her college friend Anna O\u2019Donoghue to be her bridesmaid. Her nieces Jessica and Amber Donnelly were the flowergirls and her nephews Oisin and Christopher Donnelly were the pageboys.<\/p>\n

Dmytro\u2019s twin brother Max Bykovskyy and Peter Losberg, Skibbereen, were the groomsmen.<\/p>\n

\"ClaraClara Donnelly and Dmytro Bykovskyy. Pictures: Black Diamond Photography <\/p>\n

The star of the show was Bram Donnelly-Bykovskyy, Clara and Dmytro’s son, who was the ring bearer. \u201cBram had been due on Halloween the year before but had arrived two days later \u2014 so on our wedding day he was just shy of two days from turning one,\u201d says Clara.<\/p>\n

We are speaking this week as Clara, Dmytry and Bram \u2014 named after the Dracula author, of course\u00a0\u2014 mark their first anniversary, together with the family\u2019s latest addition, Bram\u2019s younger brother, Torin, who was born this summer.<\/p>\n

\"ClaraClara Donnelly and Dmytro Bykovskyy. Pictures: Black Diamond Photography <\/p>\n

For the big day, Ballygarry\u2019s general manager Thys Vogels and wedding co-ordinator Amanda O\u2019Connor brewed up a magical atmosphere, adds Clara. \u201cIt was amazing to have the whole event in one place and Thys and it was all so chill,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n

Kaspars Sarovarcenko Black Diamond Photography<\/a> captured the occasion on camera. \u201cWe had a Halloween theme \u2014 but overall we kept it very minimal,\u201d says Clara. \u201cWe had masks for people if they wanted to wear them \u2014 they were more masquerade-style masks than scary Halloween masks!\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"ClaraClara Donnelly and Dmytro Bykovskyy. Pictures: Black Diamond Photography <\/p>\n

The bride, who works for Amazon, and groom, an officer with the Irish Navy, received a a guard of honour from Dmytro\u2019s naval colleagues.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cThere was an arch of swords ceremony entering and exiting the chapel,\u201d says Clara. \u201cIt was very cool, actually!\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"ClaraClara Donnelly and Dmytro Bykovskyy receive a guard of honour from Dmytro’s Irish Navy colleagues. Pictures: Black Diamond Photography <\/p>\n

Clara\u2019s parents Marie and Eamon Donnelly and Dmytro\u2019s mother and father Valeriy and Lyudmyla Bykovskyy helped lead the celebrations, with guests arriving from across Ireland the world.<\/p>\n

Clara looked ethereal in a Madison James gown which she sourced in The White Ivy, Kenmare, and the groom purchased his tux at Simply Suits, Cork. Sandra Flynn of Sandra Flynn Beauty, Clara\u2019s sister-in-law, was the makeup artist and Amy O\u2019Donoghue was the hairstylist.<\/p>\n

\"ClaraClara Donnelly and Dmytro Bykovskyy. Pictures: Black Diamond Photography <\/p>\n

Maura Sheehy, Maura\u2019s Cottage Flowers, created the floral arrangements and Gabi\u2019s Cakes, Killorglin, baked the wedding cake. \u201cFergus O\u2019Sullivan performed on saxophone for the wedding ceremony, and. Sax on Fire, our wedding band, kept the party going, adds Clara.<\/p>\n

The newlyweds and Bram enjoyed a \u201cfamilymoon\u201d in Sheen Falls Lodge, Kenmare.<\/p>\n

If you would like your wedding featured in Weekend email eve.kelliher@examiner.ie<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"SAYING their “I do’s” at Halloween was \u201ca dream come true\u201d for this Cork-based couple, according to bride…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":116988,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[4998,21008,61,60,43],"class_list":{"0":"post-116987","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-ireland","8":"tag-weddings","9":"tag-halloween","10":"tag-ie","11":"tag-ireland","12":"tag-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/116987","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=116987"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/116987\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/116988"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=116987"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=116987"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=116987"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}