Wedding of the Week: Love is right on track for Dart driver Patrick and Meghan
Meghan Aarssen and Patrick Murray. Pictures: Livia Cardozo
Planes, trains and automobiles starred in the 1980s movie and all three also set Meghan Aarssen and Patrick Murray's romance in motion.
Meghan and Patrick, an Irish Rail driver, turned heads of commuters when they hopped aboard the Dart to get to their wedding on time last week.
The bride, originally from Ontario, Canada, and groom, from São Paolo, Brazil, now live in Greystones, County Wicklow, and it is from there they set off by rail to exchange wedding vows.
Meghan, wearing her gown, and Patrick, dapper in his suit, were whisked off Dublin’s Grand Canal Street registry office for their September 29 ceremony by the groom’s fellow Dart driver and 'wedding chauffeur', Gary Williams.
“Another colleague, Ciaran Devitt, the station controller in Bray, who was my former mentor when I trained as a Dart driver, was also in charge of getting us to our wedding! It was a real honour to have him there,” says Patrick.
The groom, who was born and raised in São Paolo, to an Irish father and Austrian mother, has been living in Ireland for four-and-a-half years and the bride moved to Wicklow a month ago.
Here's where the planes and automobiles come in: The couple first met when Meghan, a massage therapist living and working in Ontario, was driving a friend to the airport, in Canada.
“The friend, who was flying to Ireland, offered to get her a ticket to fly with him to Ireland too to visit a mutual friend, and that friend also happened to be my friend, so she invited all of us to go for a sea swim in Greystones (in The Cove),” says Patrick.
He and Meghan “connected instantly” when they started chatting about the Wim Hof Method [a therapy that involves breathing and exposure to cold], adds Patrick.
They went on a date two days later to Brittas Bay, where they enjoyed a candlelit dinner “under stars at the beach”, adds Patrick. “That night happened to be the night of a meteor shower with crystal-clear skies,” he says.
“Even though we had just met it felt like we had known each other for a lifetime.”
That was just over a year before they were to wed, on August 12, 2021.
“As a joke with a pinch of truth, I asked Meghan on the first date if we should get married. In hindsight, Meghan says that should have been a red flag but she felt the same way!” adds Patrick.
Six months later, he popped the question at St Jacobs Market in Ontario.
“I wrote Meghan a letter while I was waiting for her to finish work and at the end of the letter, which she opened at the market, I asked her to marry me,” says Patrick.
The couple were initially “just going to elope”, he adds, but decided they wanted to share the occasion with their immediate families.
And they were delighted they did. “It turned out better than it could have ever been,” says the groom.
“The effort Irish Rail put in to make the trip to Dublin and back home was incredible, all family members were very helpful and supportive, the registrar, Wendy, was very kind and created a beautiful ceremony for us, and lastly the food at the restaurant [Baha 33] was outstanding."
Meghan’s parents, Stacey and John Aarssen, Patrick’s mother and father Elisabeth and David Murray, Meghan’s sister and niece Chantel and Madeleine Kuhloff, and Patrick’s sister Daniela Murray attended the event.
“Both of our sisters were our witnesses and Chantel was maid of honour,” says Meghan.
As for preparing that morning? “Meghan cut my hair and she did her own hair and make-up with some help from her sister Chantel,” says Patrick.
- If you would like your wedding featured in Wedding of the Week, email eve.kelliher@examiner.ie
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