My Wedding Day with Fionnuala Jay: 'Cian and I did a joint speech as if we were presenting the Six O'Clock Show'

Fionnuala Jay and Cian walk through the gardens at Fernhill House. Pictures: SOSAC Photography

We got married on September 26, 2025, in Fernhill House in Clonakilty in West Cork. We had the whole thing in Fernhill. We had no particular connection with Clonakilty (I’m from Cobh), but once we saw Fernhill, I was enchanted by it.

I wanted a garden/nature kind of vibe, and I could just see ourselves walking around the gardens on our day and I could see our friends in every spot in the hotel. It was everything I could have ever wanted in a venue.

Ahead of the day, we had the Child of Prague plagued and I paid a witch to make sure it didn’t rain. It worked! We were able to have a garden ceremony, although the staff did say they were waiting in the wings with umbrellas, just in case.

Because we had already had our legal wedding in Dublin, earlier that year, we were able to have a lovely, humanist ceremony in Cork. We got my friend, Jack Reardon, to do our ceremony. We lived together in Dublin, we’d gone to college together, and he pretty much got me through covid. We were living together at the start of mine and Cian’s relationship, so he knows him very well, too.

Fionnuala Jay and Cian Roche on their wedding day at Fernhill House. 

For the ceremony, I wanted to give my older extended family a little bit of razzle dazzle, but also rooted in tradition, which I knew Jack would be able to do. And he did a brilliant job. One of my bridesmaids, Val, her dad, Tom Foster, played music during the ceremony, too.

The whole thing was all very connected to the people we love.

We did all the planning ourselves, which was so stressful. There were a lot of things to keep track of, and that’s not in my wheelhouse. I don’t know why I ever thought it was. Now, in fairness, Cian was very hands-on; it was very much a team effort. If anyone is thinking of getting married and is prone to being hyper-stressed, like me, and is reading this, I would recommend, maybe, considering at least speaking to a wedding planner!

I got my dress in Little White Dress in Limerick. We’ve been to a couple of different places in Cork, in Dublin — I’d gone to London, at one point, to look for dresses — and I knew I was kind of reaching the end of my tether, in terms of looking and shopping. But, then, we went into Little White Dress on a whim (it was across the road from a hotel I was staying in) and the lady there pulled out a dress for me, and I loved it. It was so glamorous and I felt super-confident in it.

Fionnuala Jay with her bridesmaids and bridesman. 

On the day, I was dragging that dress across the floor like something from The Exorcist. The moving and grooving I was doing in that dress.

For my flowers, we went with dried flowers from Copper & Fern, and they were just beautiful. Afterwards, I was able to reuse them as gifts for my bridesmaids and for my mum and Cian’s mum. We still have some of the flowers in our kitchen.

On the morning of the wedding, I was giddy with excitement. I’m not a gal for getting up early; I like my sleep. But I was up around 6.30am to get started with make-up and getting ready. We had a lovely morning with my bridesmaids (and my bridesman), my mum and my sister’s two little kids. My brother is a dab hand at making cocktails, so he’d pre-made some margaritas for me and my bridesmaids, and that was fab.

Fionnuala Jay walking down the aisle with her dad. 

After the ceremony, we had our drinks reception in a marquee in the gardens. We had booked Stevie G to DJ the drinks reception, but I had completely forgotten that. 

Fionnuala Jay and Cian Roche with guests on their wedding day at Fernhill House.

We were walking up to the marquee, and I saw him there and he was like an apparition or something! Honestly, it was one of the best moments of my life. All those years listening to RedFM finally paid off. I laugh every time I think about that memory; it was like an out-of-body experience.

We did most of our speeches during the drinks reception, and then Cian and I did a joint speech after the meal. Nobody found this as funny as we did, but we did the speech as if we were presenting the Six O’Clock Show. We had the theme music and our cue cards and everything. We thought it was hilarious, but it went over everyone else’s heads.

Fionnuala Jay and Cian Roche on their wedding day at Fernhill House. 

For our band, we had The Electrix, and Louise Bruton was our DJ afterwards. Our first dance was to This Old Heart of Mine, by The Isley Brothers. The band were unreal and Louise was totally for me and the girls. She’s an incredible DJ, and I’d seen her DJ at another wedding and knew she’d be amazing. If you watch any of the videos back from the wedding, it’s me and four other people on the dance floor, and I’m having the time of my life!

Looking back at the day, my lasting memory is walking up the aisle and seeing all my friends and family. To feel that love concentrated so intensely in that moment was unbelievable.

• Fionnuala Jay hosts a weekly podcast, called Flop Culture with Bronwyn O’Neill, where she recaps TV shows and movies, as well as pop culture history.