From Mass to a cookery class, we found true love in surprising places
Viva Andrada and John O’Flynn. Picture: Picture: Team OSS
When and signed up for a cookery class they never expected to find the recipe for love.
Viva, originally from Manila, and John, from Cork and based in Britain for the past two decades, took up their wooden spoons on November 1, 2014.
“It was a one-day class in London — and if we hadn’t attended that class, we might never have met,” says Viva.
“We had an instant attraction — our passion for food, literature, music, travel, and adventure made us the perfect match.”
John popped the question less than a year later, in the Philippines, at Manila Ocean Park. “After three trips to Manila, he proposed to me, and a date for a Filipino-Irish wedding was set,” says Viva.
They exchanged vows in Manila, in Mary the Queen Parish church, in January 2016, and celebrated with a reception in the Shangri-La Edsa Plaza Hotel.
And both still adore cooking. Viva, an entrepreneur who set up Love Viva Cakes and Crafts three years ago, and she and John, an engineer, take turns in the kitchen. “We share cooking duties at home, which is really great,” says Viva.
They live in Gloucestershire.
A snapshot of west Cork on Twitter was the signpost to love for and .
Laura, from Massachusetts, and Eoin, from Gurranabraher, Cork, first met when Laura was researching Cork online, with a view to relocating from the United States.
“I had been working in Boston since I was 22 and by 35, the commute and hectic lifestyle was killing me and I knew I needed a change,” says Laura.
“I started making plans to change up my life. I had been working in financial marketing for about nine years at that point.”
Laura, who comes from an Irish-American family, found her thoughts winging their way across the Atlantic — and specifically to Cork.
“I decided to go to Ballymaloe Cookery School in April 2019 and do the three-month programme and then go to UCC for a master’s degree in food business and take a year and a half off work,” she says.
“I had previously lived in Galway for a year as an undergrad.”
As she researched “all things Cork” on Twitter, a photograph caught Laura’s eye. “Eoin had posted a beautiful photo of west Cork and I thought he was a professional photographer,” she says. “I commented and we sent a few comments back and forth. So that one #Cork search and little comment are what connected us.”
They chatted every day after. “As soon as we met, we knew we had something special. He said he knew right away,” says Laura.
“Eoin met me at Ballymaloe for lunch and then our first proper date was in town at the Crawford Art Gallery and he gave me an excellent tour of the city on foot.”
The couple got engaged two years later, in their apartment during lockdown. “He wanted to propose on the Ring of Kerry, but I loved having it be just the two of us at home. And we kept it to ourselves for 24 hours to enjoy the buzz.”
The newlyweds, who live in Cork city, were married in November 2021 in the Honan Chapel.
Laura runs Culinary Cork and is a senior marketing manager at Goodbody and Eoin is a sales executive at EZ Living interiors.
and first spotted one another at Mass, in Northampton Cathedral in 1986.
Both come from Irish families had been raised in Northampton and had just emerged from long relationships. “I’d stopped practising my Catholic faith so hadn’t been to church for a while. My parents asked if I would like to go to Mass one Sunday evening, so I went along with them,” says Eve.
“When we got to the cathedral, we sat down in a pew. Behind us was Eamonn.”
Although Eve’s parents knew Eamonn'a family, Eve had never spoken to him before.
“As Communion commenced my parents left their seats. I didn’t as I felt I needed to go to confession before receiving the sacrament. Eamonn was also abstaining. He did however tap me on the shoulder. I turned around and he very quietly asked ‘Are you not hungry?!’ This of course did make me chuckle.”
Later that evening, Eve met up with a friend and headed to their local wine bar.
“It was very busy and, to my astonishment and joy, Eamonn was across the other side of the bar. He smiled and asked what we were drinking and bought our drinks. We started to chat and before long were laughing and joking with each other.
“We exchanged numbers — however, I was very aware that I had just come out of a long relationship and needed to take things slowly.”
But Cupid had other plans. They started dating and, less than a year later, were engaged.
They were married in Rome in October 1987 and the couple now has three grown-up children and two grandsons.
After holidaying in Caherciveen, in 2006, they decided to relocate to Kerry.
“We moved to Ireland in 2007, and have a small business called Eve’s Leaves, making relish.
My husband and I are together 24/7. We live together and work together and can’t imagine ever being apart,” says Eve.
“We have been together for 36 years and no one thought it would last!”
It wasn't until they had gone on several dates together that and realised their paths had crossed many years before — when they were toddlers.
Ellen, from Rathgar, Dublin, and Ciaran, from Kilkenny, had their first date in Sophie’s Rooftop Bar & Terrace in Dublin in June 2016 and four dates later, they realised they had attended ABC Playschool in Rathgar.
“It turned out that we had gone there together as children,” says Ellen.
“Ciaran moved with his family to Kilkenny when he was nine and we met when he moved to Dublin for his new job, but it wasn’t until about the fifth date that we made the playschool connection. Then we looked back at old photos from that time and we had the same ones.”
Ciaran popped the question last September and the couple is now busy planning their nuptials, in December — when they will also celebrate Ellen's 30th birthday.
Ellen, a doctor, and Ciaran, a product manager at a start-up company, live in Harold’s Cross, Dublin.
They will get married in the Church of the Three Patrons, Rathgar, and hold their reception in Kilkea Castle Hotel in Co Kildare.
“The playschool is opposite the church hopefully we can get to recreate some nostalgic pictures after the ceremony on the day,” says Ellen.
A fairytale wedding in Dromoland Castle on New Year’s Day this year was a high point of and ’s relationship.
Teenage sweethearts, this couple from Newbridge, Co Kildare, went their separate ways in their early 20s, but chance brought them together again two decades later.
“We met in 1983 when we were both 16, in the nightclub in the local hotel in Newbridge. I was doing my Leaving Cert — and, of course, I had to beg my mother to go,” says Christine.
They dated for over four years. “We even got engaged — when we were about 21,” says Christine. “Then we broke up — and that was it. We didn’t see one another for 19 years.”
Both went on to marry other partners and have children.
In the early noughties, her pals encouraged a newly single Christine to find love again. “My friends were always desperate for me to be in a relationship. But I was very happy — I had my home, my job, my kids,” says Christine.
One night, she agreed to go on a date. “I went into a pub to meet him — and I saw Peter sitting at the bar,” says Christine.
Christine, her date and the group they were with later moved to another venue.
But Peter had also spotted Christine and sought out her number from her cousin.
“He texted me the next day wishing me a belated happy birthday,” says Christine.
“I was separated for a long time at that stage but Peter wasn't — so we just texted one another for five months. Because I knew when you are newly single you really need be with yourself - you need to find out who you are all over again.”
Then, they met up in September 2006. “Within an hour he said he loved me,” says Christine.
They got engaged on Valentine’s Day 2018 in Ashford Castle.
Celebrant Dara Molloy led their spiritual and Celtic wedding ceremony. “Our wedding was just magical — so intimate and so happy,” says Christine.
“My son Conor gave me away and was Peter’s groomsman and Peter’s son Niall was the best man. My daughter Aisleigh and Peter’s daughter Anna were bridesmaids.”
Christine works for a transport company and Peter is a landscape gardener.
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