My Wedding Day with Laura Nolan: 'Our reception tables were named after dances we performed together on Dancing with the Stars'

Because we had met on Dancing with the Stars we had included a few nods to the show throughout our day

Laura Nolan and Matthew MacNabb on their wedding day. Picture: Guilherme Resende & Edgar Camargo @guilhermertds

Tue, 23 Jun, 2026 - 20:00

Deirdre McArdle

We got married on May 30 in the Cathedral of the Blessed Virgin Mary in Carlow, just 20 minutes from our venue, Kilkea Castle.

We thought we’d go for a small wedding, but by the time we’d invited our family, we were already over 100 people.

That was before we’d invited our friends: So we ended up with 170.

We worked with a wedding planner — Everita Kenny — and she was absolutely incredible. I would say, though, that I was very hands-on with everything, too, and I was going back and forth with Everita. I’m a very detailed person. I think it comes from all the dancing competitions over the years.

Before we started planning anything, my mom had seen a dress online and sent it to me, saying: ‘I know you’re not looking yet, but isn’t this beautiful?’ It was stunning. When I did start to look at dresses, I couldn’t get that one out of my mind. It was from a brand called Milla Nova, and they happened to be stocked in Verona Bridal in Belfast.

Laura Nolan on her wedding day. Picture: Guilherme Resende & Edgar Camargo @guilhermertds

My mom and myself went up to Belfast and my mom found the actual dress in the shop. It was the very first dress I tried on, and it was the dress. Now, I tried on around 20 or 30 dresses afterwards, but that was the dress. I did have it slightly altered to make it an off-the-shoulder look, and I just loved it. It was so princessy and fairy-like; perfect for a wedding in a castle.

It was ideal that my mom had found the dress; it was a real full-circle moment. All the years I was competing in dance competitions, my mom designed my dresses with me. And for the biggest day of my life, it was just so beautiful that my mom still knew exactly what suited me!

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On the day of the wedding, we had a lovely, chilled morning in the castle, getting ready. We had make-up artists and hairdressers from Dancing with the Stars, who came down to help us to get ready. Everyone was flying in and out of the rooms, and everyone was excited, and it was emotional, too.

For the ceremony, because we weren’t actually from the Carlow parish, we couldn’t use the parish priest, but we had a great plan B. We asked Fr Ray Kelly — we know him personally — and it was so lovely having him do the ceremony for us. He also sang Hallelujah during the ceremony and it was incredible.

And then, Niamh Kavanagh, who had been on Dancing with the Stars this year, said, as a wedding gift to us, she’d love to sing during the ceremony. She sang In Your Eyes and it was pure goosebumps.

Myself and Matthew had tears in our eyes. It was just sensational to the point that people didn’t want the ceremony to actually end. We had candles on the aisles and some people got the candles and were swaying them in the air.

Because we had met on Dancing with the Stars, we had included a few nods to the show throughout our day. All our reception tables were named after dances we had performed together on the show and each table had a photo of us doing that specific dance.

Then, we asked Jack Boylan, the Dancing with the Stars voiceover artist, to record a special introduction for our first dance as husband and wife. So, we had the announcement: “Dancing their first dance as husband and wife, it’s Matthew and Laura,” and that was so cool.

Laura Nolan and Matthew MaNabb on her wedding day. Picture: Guilherme Resende & Edgar Camargo @guilhermertds

Deric Ó hArtagáin is one of my best friends, and he was our MC, too, for the day, and he did a great job.

We also had two glitter balls installed over the dance floor to tie in to the Dancing with the Stars theme. The Event Band was our band for the evening, and they did a pre-show during the meal, which was unreal. We were actually having our dinner while dancing! Then, afterwards, they did a set, and I’ve never seen anything like it; everyone was up on the floor all night.

Before the wedding, everyone kept asking us what we were planning for our first dance. It took us ages to decide what we wanted to do, because we didn’t just want to do another show dance; we wanted it to be intimate and personal, but also reflect our time on the show.

So I choreographed a dance to Heaven Can Wait, by Dean Martin, and included little moments, like when Matthew kissed me for the first time in rehearsals, and other moments, and it was just lovely. Yes, it was a choreographed dance, but it was so personal to us.

The party went on until after 5am! My dad and my cousin love a sing-song, and one of my close friends, Anna Caplis — she was on Ultimate Hell Week with me — she’s an amazing singer, so she was up doing the sing- song in the residents’ bar, too. We were all up singing Irish songs until all hours.

Looking back, I actually think about the ceremony a lot: Walking up the aisle with my dad, and that feeling when we were doing the vows. That internal happiness and love, and the love from everyone around us, is the thing that stands out to me.