My Wedding Day with Ally Garvey: It was my dream to marry abroad but Dublin made sense

Ally Garvey and her husband Denis Clancy made a special visit to Kehoe’s, where they had their first date.

We got married on September 16, 2021. It was at that funny stage where restrictions were lifting, but we still had some — for instance, there was no live music allowed at events. Although that restriction was lifted on the morning of the wedding, there was nothing we could do about it at that stage.

It didn’t make a difference really, we had playlists and we had surround sound. Looking back, though, it was a funny time.

I’m a Dublin girl, born in Dublin 8, and Denis my husband is from Rathcoole, Dublin. It was always my dream to go abroad to get married. But that was a big no-no at the time, and actually, we had our two girls — Pippa and Holly — and we really wanted to make sure they were involved. So having the wedding in Dublin made sense for a number of reasons.

We got married in the Shelbourne Hotel; we did the registry part there and also the afters. We had around 35 very close family and friends on the day; I think the restrictions at the time were 40 people indoors.

The dress is a funny one because I’ve modelled for years and, when I was younger, I’d done an awful lot of bridal shows. I kind of knew the brand that I wanted. It’s called Made with Love, it’s an Australian brand.

I happened to be working in Cork on The Today Show one of the days, and I remember Googling if there were stockists in Cork, and there was one just two minutes away. I rang for an appointment, and they said to come straight in. I tried on the two dresses I had in my mind, and I knew straight away that the second one was the one.

Ally Garvey

I’d always thought I’d love to include my mom and my girls in the wedding dress shopping, so we went down to Cork the following week and had the whole experience properly.

On the day of the wedding, we had gorgeous weather. My mom gave me away, which is extra special. We’re very close, and my two girls adore her.

It was really lovely to have that special moment.

Our little girls were our flower girls. They were in their gorgeous dresses, and they were delighted with themselves. Holly had all the petals gone before we even got halfway up the aisle. And then they saw their daddy, and they ran to him. Those little moments were beautiful; you couldn’t fake them.

After the registry part, we walked down Grafton Street, got some pictures taken by Darren Fitzpatrick who was our photographer on the day, and then we went into Kehoes for a pint of Guinness. Kehoes is quite special to us as a couple, we had our first date there. To be able to go in there, pull a pint behind the bar, and then sit there having our Guinness meant a lot to us.

Then we wandered back up to The Shelbourne for the meal. The hotel was just great and really guided us through the day. It was such an uncertain time and, in many cases, the hotels were just learning about restrictions lifting the same time as us, but they were just so helpful.

We had a lovely day, and everyone was happy to be out socialising and seeing people again. The craic was 90.

Ally Garvey and her husband Denis 

We had our meal, we cut the cake, and then it was straight into a few songs and drinks. My uncle is a great man for a sing song, so we were all singing along, you know, a typical Irish wedding.

Because of the restrictions we kind of split our wedding into two days, so on the day-two we had a party on MV Cill Airne, the Boat Bar and
Restaurant, which is docked by the Convention Centre in Dublin.

We had the option of doing the party both indoor and outdoor, and it meant we were able to have around 100 guests at that — some indoors and most outdoors. These are all people that would have been at our wedding proper if the restrictions weren’t in place, so it was great we got to celebrate with them too.

That day was very relaxed. I wore a short dress. Denis was in a shirt and jeans. It was so laid-back. Everyone was in flying form, because they were out partying for the first time in ages.

We did have to wind everything up by 12 o’clock, another kind of restriction, but we just started earlier.

There’s one photo that stands out to me from our day. It was taken just after we got married, and we’re signing the register, and it’s the four of us — myself, Denis, Pippa and Holly. I look at that photo and I think “forget all your frills and your bells and your whistles, this is what’s
important”. That’s one of my favourite memories of the day.

Ally and her husband Denis with their girls Pippa and Holly

• Ally Garvey is a regular contributor on The Today Show on RTÉ, and you can follow Ally on Instagram @AllyGarvey where she posts about fashion, make-up, and beauty.