My Wedding Day with Niamh deBrún: 'I still remember TJ’s face when he saw me coming down the aisle'

Niamh deBrún and her husband TJ Reid on their wedding day.

We got married on November 26, 2021. We had the ceremony in the Holy Trinity Abbey Church in Adare, and then we had the reception in Adare Manor. I’m originally from Limerick, although we live in Kilkenny now, where my husband TJ, is from. I wanted to get married in Limerick, and although I’m not from Adare, we went to see Adare Manor and fell in love with it.

It was an average-sized wedding of about 120 people. We’d had to postpone the wedding three times because of COVID, so we said we’re doing it now, and that’s it. Because of the hurling schedule, winter is the optimal time to have a wedding, between club and county competitions, so I always knew it would be a winter wedding.

I got my dress at a trunk show in Kathy de Stafford Bridal. The designer was Inbal Dror. I’d seen the designer’s dresses before, and I really loved their style, so when I heard about the pop-up trunk show, I went up and I ended up finding a dress I loved. The style was a long-sleeve lace with a V-neck. It had a detachable skirt that attached to the back of the dress, and I was able to take that off later for the dancing.

For my bridesmaids’ dresses, I worked with a Limerick designer, Aoife McNamara. I know Aoife from Limerick, and she doesn’t really make bridesmaid dresses, but she made the dresses for me. And they were in a lovely forest green colour, which suited the time of year. Then, TJ and his groomsmen all wore Louis Copeland suits.

Niamh deBrún and her husband TJ Reid on their wedding day.

We worked with a wedding coordinator from Limerick and relied on her recommendations for local vendors, like the flowers, for example. I would say that I had a very clear idea of what I wanted. I like doing up my mood boards, and I'm very specific in what I want. For the theme, I went very straightforward; I just went for white everything. So we had white roses in the bouquet and then white roses and greenery in the church and on the tables. Very classic and suited to a winter wedding.

We stayed in Adare Manor the night before. A big gang had come down from Kilkenny, all of TJ’s Kilkenny teammates and his family. We all met up the night before and had dinner and a few drinks. I wasn’t late getting to bed, but it was definitely a bit later for the lads.

Niamh deBrún and her husband TJ Reid on their wedding day.

Then the next morning, we got ready in different parts of the hotel. We had a lovely morning getting ready. I was very calm, excited, but calm. We’d hired a vintage car to bring me to the church, so my dad and I travelled in that.

I still remember TJ’s face when he saw me coming down the aisle. It’s one of my highlights of the day. He was so emotional. He doesn’t really tend to be overly emotional, but he was and he was really smiley. I’ll never forget that.

I’m a Gaeilgóir, so I did my vows as Gaeilge. It was important to me to have the Irish language in my day. Actually, there were bits of Irish interwoven into the day, with our signs around the place and things like that.

Niamh deBrún and her husband TJ Reid on their wedding day.

We had little nods to family and where we’re from too throughout the day. TJ’s mum sadly passed away a number of years ago, so we had a candle honouring her. And there's a local distillery in Kilkenny, called Ballykeefe Distillery. I got little bottles of gin and whiskey from the distillery and had them on the tables as favours for the guests, a nice nod to where we live and where TJ is from.

The day all went along so quickly, but really smoothly. The meal was lovely, and then we had the speeches. I made a speech, and both my parents did too. Both my parents are really intelligent, so there was kind of a nice mix of stories from my childhood. My dad also incorporated some Latin into his speech - what people understood of that I don’t know! And then of course there was the banter and funny stories too from the bestman and TJ himself.

Niamh deBrún and her husband TJ Reid on their wedding day.

Our first dance was to Ed Sheeran’s Perfect. We like the song, and the lyrics are lovely. We had the Bentley Boys for our band, and they were great. They had everyone up on the dance floor all night. We didn’t stop dancing, really and just having a laugh with everyone.

After the band then we had a DJ, and then a bit of an after party back in the residents’ bar with a sing-along. We weren’t too late getting to bed, though, maybe around half two. We knew we were having a second day, and we’d been up so early that morning, too.

You can follow Niamh on Instagram, where she shares content about her life, style, beauty and fitness.