{"id":475711,"date":"2026-05-31T05:36:12","date_gmt":"2026-05-31T05:36:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/475711\/"},"modified":"2026-05-31T05:36:12","modified_gmt":"2026-05-31T05:36:12","slug":"wedding-of-the-week-we-married-during-storm-amy-as-gougane-barra-flooded","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/475711\/","title":{"rendered":"Wedding of the Week: We married during Storm Amy as Gougane Barra flooded"},"content":{"rendered":"

As Ireland sweltered in record soaring temperatures this week, the scenes contrasted starkly with the snaps in Cork couple Elisabeth Villa and Anthony McSweeney\u2019s wedding album.<\/p>\n

The Ballincollig-based newlyweds, who enjoyed an Italian honeymoon this month, hit the headlines and the airwaves in October<\/a> after refusing to let Storm Amy play spoilsport when floods engulfed the island where they were to exchange vows. \u201cLooking back on the day, if the weather had been as sunny as we\u2019d hoped, we wouldn\u2019t have the photos that are some of our favourites,\u201d says the bride.<\/p>\n

\"ElisabethElisabeth Villa and Anthony McSweeney. Pictures: John Sexton Photography <\/p>\n

Elisabeth, from Worcester, Massachusetts, and Anthony, from Ovens, Co Cork, were married in St Finbarr\u2019s Oratory, Gougane Barra, by Fr Se\u00e1n O\u2019Sullivan and held their reception at the Gougane Barra Hotel. \u201cThroughout the morning, we could see the water rising on the island and flooding the causeway over to the church,\u201d says Elisabeth.<\/p>\n

\"GroomGroom Anthony McSweeney awaits his bride Elisabeth Villa. Pictures: John Sexton Photography<\/p>\n

So, Neil Lucey, manager of Gougane Barra Hotel, ferried the immediate family to the oratory for the ceremony in a Land Rover in several trips, then back for a full Mass at the hotel with the rest of the guests.<\/p>\n

\"BrideBride Elisabeth Villa arrives at the church. Pictures: John Sexton Photography <\/p>\n

While the first few groups were brought to St Finbarr\u2019s Oratory, Elisabeth and her bridesmaids were watching all of the action from the bridal suite, upstairs at the hotel. \u201cWe couldn\u2019t help but laugh \u2014 it was so important to embrace the changes rather than letting it ruin the day,\u201d says Elisabeth.<\/p>\n

\u201cNeil and Katy Lucey helped make our day special, and we can\u2019t sing the praises enough about John Sexton! Any other photographer would have looked at the 2ft of water and said, \u2018Sorry, we won\u2019t be able to get those shots\u2019, but John was determined to do everything he could to get the photos we had envisioned.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"ElisabethElisabeth Villa and Anthony McSweeney. Pictures: John Sexton Photography <\/p>\n

Their wedding photographer, in turn, says everyone took their cue from the couple, who had chosen Gougane Barra for their engagement, on June 15, 2024. \u201cStrangely enough, it was probably the calmest wedding I\u2019ve ever shot,\u201d says John Sexton. \u201cThere was no stress, no panic or worries on the day itself. We all just got on with it. The weather and the flooding were crazy, but we came up with a plan, did what we had to do \u2014 and we were seriously up against time, because the water level in the lake was increasing at a rate of knots!\u201d<\/p>\n

\"ElisabethElisabeth Villa and Anthony McSweeney. Pictures: John Sexton Photography <\/p>\n

Elisabeth and Anthony first met in September 2022 when Elisabeth moved to Cork from the US to participate in a year of volunteer work with L\u2019Arche Cork. \u201cI downloaded Bumble to make friends, but that turned into finding my future husband!\u201d she says.<\/p>\n

\"ElisabethElisabeth Villa and Anthony McSweeney with their wedding party. Pictures: John Sexton Photography <\/p>\n

Both sets of parents, Lisa and Michael Villa and Eileen and Tony McSweeney, and the bride\u2019s grandmother, LaDonna Sacovitch, toasted to their future happiness. The couple held another celebration in Boston shortly after their big day. Elisabeth\u2019s sister Katie Villa was her maid of honour, and her sister Caroline Villa and Anthony\u2019s sister Grace McSweeney were bridesmaids.<\/p>\n

Anthony\u2019s friends Diarmuid Dineen, best man, and Cathal Buckley, groomsman, along with Elisabeth\u2019s twin brother Tony Villa, groomsman, were by his side.<\/p>\n

\"ElisabethElisabeth Villa and Anthony McSweeney with their wedding party. Pictures: John Sexton Photography <\/p>\n

The bride wore an Essence of Australia gown, and the groom and his party were dapper in suits from Tom Murphy Menswear, Cork \u2014 and their wedding photographer also cut a dash. \u201cThere was an image of me standing outside Gougane Barra church, and instead of wearing a pair of waders, I\u2019m wearing a pair of black plastic bin liners covering my legs, so that I could get a photograph looking back at the couple standing inside the open church door,\u201d says John.<\/p>\n

\"ElisabethElisabeth Villa and Anthony McSweeney. Pictures: John Sexton Photography <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"As Ireland sweltered in record soaring temperatures this week, the scenes contrasted starkly with the snaps in Cork…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":475712,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[5658,4998,61,60,43,55665],"class_list":["post-475711","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-ireland","tag-irish-examiner-instagram","tag-weddings","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-news","tag-wedding-of-the-week"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/475711","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=475711"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/475711\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/475712"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=475711"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=475711"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=475711"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}