O’Donnell fans gather for wedding

Fans of country singer Daniel O’Donnell today began gathering to catch a glimpse of the star’s wedding.

The popular Irish singer and his fiancee Majella McLennan were to wed in a traditional service in his home village of Kincasslagh in Co Donegal on the rugged Atlantic coast.

There was a high security presence as fans gathered outside St Mary’s Church to await the couple and their 500 guests.

Family, friends and neighbours are among those set to attend the service, followed by a reception in nearby Letterkenny.

The 40-year-old country and Irish singer, who has sold more than five million albums world-wide, became engaged to McLennan, 41, on Christmas Day 2000.

Outside the church a group of fans from Northern Ireland were waiting for the singer to arrive.

Sheila Frazer, of Co Armagh, said she had been following Daniel O’Donnell in concert for 16 years.

“We’re just all excited about it,” she said. “We’re very happy to be here.

“It’s going to be a very big event.”

She said she had seen the singer in Edinburgh and Newcastle and planned to go to concerts in Blackpool, Cardiff and Killarney.

“We are more friends than fans,” she said. “Daniel calls us all his friends.”

June Cordner, of Newtownabbey, said she had followed O’Donnell around Australia and America.

“We enjoy going to his concerts in all different parts of the world,” she said.

“We’re glad we’re here and we’re getting so close to the ceremony.”

The singer’s manager, Sean Reilly, was at the church making final preparations this morning.

He said O’Donnell had held a get-together on Saturday night with about 20 friends to celebrate his marriage.

The ceremony was being conducted by two priests – Father Brian D’Arcy and Father Pat Ward. After tonight’s reception, the couple are going straight to Branson, Missouri, where the singer will continue his tour.

They will then go on honeymoon in January 2003.

Manager of Letterkenny’s Holiday Inn, Peter Brady, said tonight’s reception would be a traditional event which would carry on until the early hours of the morning.

He said the four-star hotel would be closed to the public until Tuesday and that security staff were to be present.

“It will be a really fun-packed evening with traditional Irish food and music,” he said.

“I don’t think there will be any celebrities there. It will be a really happy family get-together.”

He said that as well as the hotel’s own security staff there would be O’Donnell’s bodyguards and members of the Gardai present.

O’Donnell began singing as a teenager before touring the Irish expatriate clubs in the UK and eventually playing to packed concert halls and arenas.