Froggy...adapted & sung by Tara & Colm on the day

Ciara went a-courtin' and she did well, uh huh, uh huh
Ciara went a-courtin' and she did well, uh huh, uh huh
Ciara went a-courtin' and she did well, for she met Sean and he is swell, uh huh, uh huh, uh huh

Sean went a-courtin' and he did good, uh huh, uh huh
Sean went a-courtin' and he did good, uh huh, uh huh
Sean went a-courtin' and he did good, for Ciara's the best catch in the neighborhood, uh huh, uh huh, uh huh

So now they've tied the wedding knot, uh huh, uh huh
Now they've tied the wedding knot, uh huh, uh huh
Now they've tied the wedding knot, and they've even bought a travel cot, uh huh, uh huh

Now their courtin' days are in the past, uh huh, uh huh
Their courtin' days are in the past, uh huh, uh huh
Their courtin' days are in the past, cause they've found true love and it will last, uh huh, uh huh

The wedding

The wedding was fab. I'd such a great time. I couldn't have had a better day. The only hiccup was that I had chronic insomnia the night before, got 3 hours sleep, and felt like a zombie all morning. Once I walked down the aisle the tiredness lifted and by the time I'd a few drinks at dinner I was on cloud nine and lasted until 4 in the morning.

Seán was gorgeous...I wanted to run up the aisle to him. The bridesmaids were beautiful, everyone looked fantastic. The weather was nice - dry and warm with sunny spells. The photographer was a bit bossy but Seán liked him. The flowers and cake (a la Sean's mum and aunt) were perfect. The food in Coolbawn was delicious and the musicians, both church and evening, were brilliant. None of the things I'd worried about (like dress being too tight, me being cold or shoes hurting) happened in the end. The mass booklet had an embarrassing number of mistakes in it, but never mind.

Considering the minimal effort I put into organising quite a lot of the wedding, it was a miracle it all turned out so perfectly and we all looked so beautiful. It was such a lovely day, I'm feeling slightly bereaved now its over! Having said that, would I go back and do it all again? Not in a million years. I now see the best reason for marriage being for life...you only have to organise a wedding once!

Wedding jitters

It was bound to happen at some stage, I couldn't maintain my cool as a breeze attitude forever. Yesterday I woke up, watched a bit of the US open final which was very exciting and had the unfortunate effect of increasing my adrenaline levels or something, cause by the time I'd had my breakfast and gotten dressed I was sick with nerves. I spent the day with Tar and Ellen and gradually calmed down as Tara promised she could source valium if it got too bad, while I got more and more things ticked off the list.

I collected the dress (which had shrunk in the dry-cleaning and needed last minute alterations) and I collected the rings (which up until monday were lost in the post somewhere between France and here). I okayed the mass booklets, bought last minute stuff and got my nails done. By the end of the day (after a half bottle of wine but no valium) I was back to my cool as a breeze self...ish.

So alls well that ends well...only one more day to go!

The pre-marriage course

We had our pre-marriage course in Tipperary town last weekend, on the sunniest warmest weekend we've had since June. Bits of it were fun...we'd to write a letter to each other that they will post to us as some point in the future, which was nice. Although if Sean is as inexpressive as usual the most I can expect is "Dear Ciara, hope you are well, love Sean" and a massive row will ensue! Fortunately, the course also covered conflict so we should be okay.

It didn't go into anything with too much depth, it felt a bit like a rubber stamping exercise. In each section we had to answer questions separately and then compare answers. Sean and I were in agreement with practically everything...which led to Sean wispering in my ear that we should be giving the course!

Bits of it were very, very painful. The sex module was cringe and the church/God module was like being back in school. At the end they made all of us stand in a circle, each couple had to light a candle and then read out a prayer. Anyway, its over and done with now, they didn't fail us so Operation Wedding is a go.

The hen

I'd a great time on the hen...one of the best days of my life. It was all a surprise -Clo and Tar wouldn't tell me a thing until something was about to happen. We went clay pigeon shooting, which I was terrible at...I got 3 out of 30 shots and a very bruised and sore shoulder. Sue, and to a lesser degree Justine, were fab at it. I got my hair done in Bellissimo in the afternoon. We stayed in Jurys and in the evening the girls locked me in the bathroom while they put on the outfits...which turned out to be fabulous star trek dresses...they had blue medical unforms and I had a red command uniform...coooool.

We had a lovely meal in the Cornstore and the girls quizzed me on Star Trek questions which I totally aced...I scoff at the pitifully easy earthling questions! We went to Clohessys and then the Sin Bin. We got lots of attention from people, including one Star Trek geek who tried and failed miserably to outwit me as an ST know-it-all...one guy who pleaded with Clo to beam him up and one guy who got really exciting and started singing the Batman theme at me when he saw me...na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, batman...moron!

Was great fun although my stomach was a bit quesy, so I didn't drink much except 3 pints of water, then spent the night going to the loo. So not much sleep and was wrecked on sunday, as expected.