My Wedding Day: Jeanni O'Shea — My mom only got her visa three weeks before our wedding

Visa challenges reshaped Greg and Jeanni O'Shea's plans, but an intimate Dublin ceremony delivered a deeply personal, joyful wedding day

Tue, 27 Jan, 2026 - 20:05

Deirdre McArdle

We got married on October 6, 2025. We’d gotten engaged on New Year’s Eve — Greg proposed while we were doing the countdown. I was reaching in for a Happy New Year’s kiss, and he was going down on one knee. It was such a shock.

We’d been speaking about 2025, saying we’re going to sort ourselves out, find out where we want to settle down, figure out our finances, and all these admin things. Little did I know he had all those conversations because he was already planning to propose.

Originally, we were going to do a big wedding in South Africa. But in August 2024, new visa regulations came out for South Africans travelling to Ireland, which made things much more difficult.

Jeanni and Greg share an intimate moment.

We had a serious conversation about our wedding day, and we both got to the point where we said we don’t really need a big wedding. We wanted something a bit more intimate, because that’s who we are.

We were still facing the South African visa issue, though, when it came to my family and friends coming to the wedding. The only person who managed to get their visa was my mom. And she only got it three weeks before the wedding. My brother was also able to come because he lives in Budapest with his wife.

So we were 20 people at the dinner table at the College Green Hotel. It was a beautiful setting.

Earlier that morning, we had a civil ceremony at the registry office. It was a Monday, which we also knew would kind of make it difficult for people, so it’s another reason we kept it casual.

We invited all our Dublin friends to come have a drink with us at House after the meal. House is where we had our first date, so there was a bit of history to the location.

My dress was probably only €150. I got it from House of CB; I’d worked for them as a model before, so I knew the dresses were good quality, fit beautifully, and are affordable. I found one that was a beautiful fit and, as I put it on, I knew it was what I was going to wear. It wasn’t over the top but still really bridal and classy. Greg wore a Louis Copeland suit and he looked absolutely fabulous.

Jeanni and Greg: 'After the ceremony, while our friends and families went on to the hotel, we had our photos done. We went down to Trinity College and also had a few photos taken in the College Green Hotel.'

My colour theme was very natural and earthy — my dress was ivory instead of white — so I went with white and ivory flowers, with a lot of greenery too.

Greg and I spent the night together the night before because I just feel like I’m my most calm self when he’s around. I knew waking up in the morning we would both have that giddiness and excited feeling and we did; we were literally in the biggest love bubble ever. We had breakfast together and then we went our separate ways, and we didn’t see each other again until I walked down the aisle.

The vows we made were so special. Throughout the last few years of being together, whenever something gets tough or we have an argument with someone else, we always say to each other: “You and me against the world.” It’s so cheesy but, funny enough, without knowing, we both ended our vows with that saying.

We went to Bali for our honeymoon and, when we there, we got tattoos on our arms. On mine, it says “you and me”, and on his arm, it says “against the world”.

Greg and Jeanni: 'The wedding was so perfect in all the right ways.'

After the ceremony, while our friends and families went on to the hotel, we had our photos done. We went down to Trinity College and also had a few photos taken in the College Green Hotel. And then we went in for the meal.

At the dinner, a big TV was brought out and Greg said his best man Jack was probably going to do a funny video as part of his speech. But what Greg had done was gone secretly to everyone that’s important to me who couldn’t get a visa in time for the wedding — like my dad, my grandparents, and my best friends from South Africa — and asked them to make little videos. And there they were, all dressed up, making short speeches, and I was just sitting there crying. It was so special.

From there, we went on to House and they sectioned the glass roof area in the back, and we had finger foods and champagne. We had a Polaroid station so that everyone who came in could take a Polaroid and write a little note and stick it into a book. That was really beautiful.

We probably got to bed at 12. We took a bubble bath and chatted about the whole day, and we just had the most beautiful morning the day after.

I think maybe people might have expected Greg to have this big, massive, expensive wedding. But we both thought ‘We’re not going to do what anyone expects of us. We’re just going to do what we want and show who we are.’ It was so perfect in all the right ways."