My Wedding Day with Sharon Mannion: I was delighted to have everything done for me

Didn’t I burst out of the dress. The button at the back came off. My mother had a needle and thread with her and she fixed it

Tue, 20 Jan, 2026 - 20:15

Deirdre McArdle

We got married on October 18, 2013.

We knew we wanted to get married abroad — we just didn’t know where. We opened a savings account for the wedding in the bank and the fella there asked us what the account was for. We said it was for our wedding, and he told us he was just back from a wedding in Portugal and it had been great. So we went to Portugal and thought “this is the place”.

We were flirting with a few wedding planners at that stage, being wined and dined. We chose one who showed us the Grande Real Santa Eulália in Albufeira and we thought it was the perfect mix — it wasn’t far from Faro airport and it was close to restaurants and bars.

Having a wedding planner was great. I know some people enjoy planning these kinds of things. I’m not one of those people. I was delighted to have everything done for me. All we had to do was organise our rings, our outfits, and the invites.

I had a budget for my wedding dress. But then I saw this one dress and I fell in love with it. The only problem was it was way more than I had planned on paying. I was over and back with the idea of buying it anyway, but then the woman in the bridal shop found a ‘last season’ version of the dress, which was essentially the same dress but for a fraction of the price. I was thrilled with that.

Sharon and Danny on the beach in Albufeira.

We had about 70 people at the wedding... not too big but not too small either. What that meant was we could have little add-ons, like an open bar until about one in the morning. When the planner originally suggested that to us, we were both thinking "an open bar is for millionaires, not us". We were blown away. And it was a big hit with our guests.

Sharon and Danny had their wedding ceremony in a church in Albufeira.

With a wedding abroad, it’s a bit of a party really before the day itself. Like two nights before the wedding, we had a big karaoke night with everyone and I remember thinking: “this is a brilliant night, how is the wedding going to top this”.

The night before the wedding, I was staying in the apartment with my mom and I thought I’d try on the dress as I was feeling a bit paranoid.

When I originally got the dress, I was in the shape of my life. But then, I’d been over in Portugal for four days, eating and drinking and I felt bloated. Anyway, I tried it on, and the next thing we heard the key going in the door. It was Danny coming into the apartment — we were in a panic and didn’t I burst out of the dress. The button at the back came off. My mother was having a conniption. Luckily, she had a needle and thread with her (how, I don’t know!) and she fixed it.

The morning of the wedding, I was very chilled. We were having the ceremony in a church in Albufeira, and then afterwards we headed back to the venue. During the drinks reception, my friend and her fella — they’re big into salsa dancing — did a dance, which was brilliant. Everybody loved that. And it kicked the whole day off nicely.

We were set to have the meal outside in the gardens of the venue. Our wedding planner though was anxious it was going to rain. She came up to me and said we should move inside. I asked what would we do if it did rain. She said: “Everybody will have to grab their plates and run inside.”

Myself and Danny thought that would be great craic, we knew nobody at the wedding would give a monkeys. So we said “we’ll stay here, it’ll be grand”. And it was. It didn’t rain at all.

We went inside for the band after the meal. Instead of a first dance, myself, Danny and our bridal party did a full-on dance routine. We’d rehearsed it for weeks; it actually added a load of excitement to the lead-up to the wedding, and we kept it a secret from everybody.

Sharon and Danny with the priest who married them.

My husband famously can’t dance, but he pulled it out of the bag for the performance. We danced to a medley of songs including 'Moon River', 'Thriller', 'Gangnam Style', 'Weapon of Choice'. It was quite the mix of songs. It went down a treat.

We had a brilliant night. And the whole day was everything we wanted. You know, a few times leading up to it, I was thinking "are we crazy spending all this money on a wedding?". We didn’t have a house at the time, and I’m a comedian, and Danny is an actor, so, you know, things were even more precarious than they are now.

A few times I was definitely wobbling in the lead-up, but Danny kept saying: “It’s our wedding, and we’ll be glad we did it.”

And, you know, I look back now and I think he was so right. When you’re getting married, I don’t think you have a proper sense that you really are creating memories for a lifetime.