My Wedding Day with Joanna Donnelly: My phone rang during the ceremony and I answered it

It was a friend of mine ringing to congratulate me on our wedding. I said: 'I’m getting married.' And she said: 'I know, that’s why I’m ringing', and I said: 'No, I’m getting married right now!'

My Wedding Day: Joanna Donnelly and Harm Luijkx in Amsterdam.

I wanted to get married around Halloween — my favourite holiday — so we got married on October 29, 2004. My husband, Harm Luijkx, is Dutch, so we had a civil ceremony in Amsterdam City Office right on the Amstel river.

At the time in Ireland, the rule was you could get married in a church or a registry office... and if you chose a registry office it had to be the one closest where you lived. I lived in Ashbourne in Meath at the time so the closest office was in Navan, and the building there was awful looking. That’s why we opted for Amsterdam.