My Wedding Day with Caoimhe Hartley: 'Mick’s dad was a Kilkenny All Star so the servers wore GAA jerseys'

Caoimhe Hartley and her husband Mick on their wedding day.

We got married on August 17, 2012. We had the wedding at the Cliff at Lyons in Celbridge, Kildare. We had the ceremony in the church in Howth village. I’m from Sutton, which is close to Howth.

I got my dress in a boutique in Howth. I was looking for something that wasn’t poufy and didn’t take up a lot of space. I would lean towards something simple and not ornate. The dress I went with was mostly lace with pearl-embroidered details and a fitted empire line with little cap sleeves.

I had gone shopping with my mum, and it was the first dress I tried on. I tried on a few others after that, but then, eventually, came back to the first one. It was actually the dress that my mom fell in love with. I think I fell in love with her being so in love with it.

My bridesmaids were three friends of mine. We had originally ordered dresses in a lovely, plum colour, but two weeks before the wedding, when we went to collect them, we realised they’d been ordered in the wrong size. So, it was a bit of a scramble to find bridesmaids’ dresses. But we had great fun. We ended up in town for the day: Myself, my mom, my mother-in-law, and my three fabulous bridesmaids. We ended up picking dresses off the rail in a lovely, navy colour.

Caoimhe Hartley and her bridesmaids.

We didn’t have a colour theme, as such, for the wedding, but we did have music as a theme running through the day. I played piano for years, and even when I was in college, studying medicine, I continued to play in the Academy of Music. It was a big part of my life, and I have a lot of connections in that scene.

I was probably a little bit nervous on the morning, but mostly excited. We were all in my parents’ home and I remember one of my bridesmaids spent most of the time trying to come up with things to occupy my dad; he didn’t know what to do with himself. So she gave him little jobs, like getting food and making cups of tea. My sister-in-law came to the house to do all our make-up. We had music playing and were bopping around. We had a great time.

Caoimhe Hartley and her husband Mick.

In the church, we had a brilliant singer, called Mairead Buicke, and we had a quartet, too. My bridesmaid, Ailbhe McDonagh, is a cellist and she played a beautiful solo during the ceremony. So, we had a lot of classical music and hymns, but then we walked out to an orchestral arrangement of Guns n’ Roses’s Sweet Child of Mine.

The priest was my husband’s uncle, Jim, who married his entire family over the years. After the ceremony, we went down to Howth harbour for the photos. It was a nice day and we got beautiful photos, but then, when we were walking back up the pier, the wind picked up and my veil was blown off my head and went flying through the air. There were about 10 of us chasing it! It was like something from a movie. 

Caoimhe and Mick at their reception.

For our drinks reception at the hotel, we had the string quartet again playing some classical music, but also some jazz. And, actually, the sun came out for that, and it was brilliant; we were able to have the drinks outside.

For the meal, we had the servers in the hotel all wearing GAA jerseys. Mick’s dad, Michael Crotty, was a hurler for Kilkenny. He won four All-Irelands with them and was an All-Star, so we got jerseys done that were half Kilkenny and half Dublin. When they were serving dessert, they all came out wearing those.

Our first dance was to Nat King Cole’s Let There Be Love. We had two bands on the night. The first was a swing band and they were great. We also had a trad band later and they kept everyone up on the floor. It was a brilliant night that went on till the wee hours: I can’t remember what time we went to bed.

Caoimhe Hartley and her husband Mick.

The lasting memory I have is when everyone headed off on the morning from my parents’ house. I remember it being unbelievably quiet; it was just myself and my dad. And it really hit me that this was so emotional for him. I’m the only girl and I’m the youngest, so he had never done this before. I think he probably waited his whole life to walk me down the aisle. The kind of momentousness of the day ahead dawned on me then and I could see how nervous he was. So, we had a lovely moment together then, just sitting in that moment for a while.

• Dr Caoimhe Hartley is the clinical lead for women’s health in the Blackrock Women’s Health Centre. She will be speaking at WellFest 2026, which takes place Saturday, May 9 and Sunday, May 10, at IMMA, Royal Hospital Kilmainham.