My Wedding Day with Rita Talty: 'I had seven bridesmaids, and Dáithí had the same on his side'

TV presenter Dáithí O Sé and Rita Talty arriving out of St Mary's in Dingle as husband and wife. Picture: Domnick Walsh/Eye Focus LTD.

We got married on July 12, 2012, in St Mary’s Church in Dingle. We had the reception in what was the Carlton Hotel, in Tralee, at the time, but it’s now called the Rose Hotel.

Dáithí is from west of Dingle, but Dingle is the closest town to where he’s from, so he really wanted to get married at home.

A lot of my family lives in America, but most of my extended relatives live in Clare. So, it just seemed fitting for us to get married in Kerry, because we were living here and we met in Kerry, at the Rose of Tralee. So, it was a natural thing. And the church in Dingle is so beautiful, with stunning scenery.

We planned it all ourselves. I’m very organised and I love planning things, so I found it easy to make all the plans. Dáithí helped a lot, too; he had a lot of input in it, and everything kind of just fell into place. 

So, the wedding planning was easy; the more stressful bit was co-ordinating for people that were coming over, and making sure they got the most out of their trip.

When I was dress shopping, I fell in love with a particular dress, but the shop couldn’t sell it to me, because the designer was discontinuing it or something. So, I found another dress that I really loved, instead. 

TV presenter Dáithí O Sé and Rita Talty showing their wedding bands on their wedding day in Dingle. Picture: Domnick Walsh/Eye Focus LTD.

But, then, one of my friends found the original dress in a different shop. We went there the next day, and they had one left, in my size! So, my mom was like, ‘You have to get this dress’. So, I did get it, and then I changed for the dinner into the other one.

I had seven bridesmaids, and Dáithí had the same number on his side. It’s the done thing in America; bridal parties are usually a little bit bigger. I had been a bridesmaid in all my friends’ weddings, so I just felt like I wanted to do the same here.

Rita and her bridesmaids Becky Solheim, Aisling Donnellan, Kimbly Gray, Emily Schroeder, Syndi Talty and Kristin Talty. Picture: Domnick Walsh / Eye Focus LTD.

It was a big enough wedding; we had about 250 people. We both have big families. I remember the church was packed. And the crowds outside the church were insane. You couldn’t move; traffic was at a standstill. When I’m looking at pictures, it’s mind-boggling the amount of people who were in the street, just to see us getting married; well, to see Dáithí getting married.

The morning of the wedding was so relaxed. I went down to SuperValu to get stuff for breakfast, and one of the guys who worked there said, ‘Oh, you just missed Dáithí, he was just here.’ That was funny.

When we got to the church, it was really full, and the music was playing, and I felt really happy. When I saw him at the altar, I just thought, ‘This is right; this is what I’m meant to be doing right now.’

Rita and her dad Mike on her wedding day in Dingle. Picture: Domnick Walsh/Eye Focus LTD.

Then, walking out of the church after the ceremony was amazing. 

Dáithí’s father was playing music, he played the accordion, and Don Stiff was there playing with Ollie Hennessy. So, the trad music was going and everyone was clapping, and it felt like the party was getting started. I remember walking down the aisle, thinking, ‘This is just unbelievable’.

Afterwards, in the hotel, after the speeches, we had our first dance to Feels Like Home, by Chantal Kreviazuk. Towards the end of that song, everyone joined us on the dance floor.

The band was so good. And we had a DJ — Brian Hurley — who’s our friend. Dáithí’s nieces are dancers, and they did a routine. And then my friend from home, he’s from Clare originally, he did Michael Jackson dancing, and people thought we had hired a Jackson impersonator. 

Dáithí and Rita arriving out of St Mary's church in Dingle as husband and wife. Picture: Domnick Walsh/Eye Focus LTD

The night was so funny, and the dance floor was full the entire night. At one stage, the crowd was doing River Dance and ACDC, people had ties around their heads; they were dancing until five or six in the morning.

We had a second-day event and a third day! The day after the wedding, we went to O’Flaherty’s in Dingle. Dáithí’s father played music there for years and years.

So his dad was there and his brother, Kevin, and Don Stick were there. We had a barbecue out the back. And the weather was so nice. Half the wedding guests came to that.

And then, the third day, we had an evening in An Bothar pub, beside Dáithí’s house. And it was really nice when we got there, with a fire going and all our friends from home, and family. And that went on, I think, to, like, six in the morning. In America, weddings end at 11 o’clock, you know, but here it’s like never-ending! But we were really lucky with the weather and everything just fell in to place. It was amazing.

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