My Wedding Day with Martina Murphy: My mother’s friend made my dress and my boss played music

Martina Murphy: "We used people we knew for all the main elements: my sister-in-law had just done a flower arranging course so she did our flowers, our boss was in a band at the time — the Long John Jump Band — so he played at the reception, and my mother’s friend made my wedding dress."

We got married 35 years ago on March 23, 1991. We had the ceremony in the church in Ballinteer in Dublin; that’s where I’m from. We had our reception in the Marine Hotel in Sutton in Dublin 13.

I’d met Colm when we worked together. I remember the first time I saw him thinking, “I’m going to marry that man”. I don’t think he thought the same about me, but I definitely set my cap at him, as they say.

We planned the whole wedding ourselves, and it all went fine. We used people we knew for all the main elements: my sister-in-law had just done a flower arranging course so she did our flowers, our boss was in a band at the time — the Long John Jump Band — so he played at the reception, and my mother’s friend made my wedding dress.

She’d never made a wedding dress before, and she actually sewed the front panel of the dress inside out. Only my mother noticed, and at that stage nothing could be done about it. But the dress itself was beautiful for its time — with its leg of mutton sleeves!

My sisters were my bridesmaids, and they wore a typical bridesmaid dress, again with the poofy sleeves, and a lovely floral fabric. Colm’s brothers were his groomsmen.

On the day itself, I wasn’t a bit nervous. For a March day, the weather was perfect. It was chilly, but there was a beautiful blue sky.

Martina Murphy: "On the day itself, I wasn’t a bit nervous. For a March day, the weather was perfect. It was chilly, but there was a beautiful blue sky."

The only thing that gave me a bit of a fright was that we had ordered this vintage car from a man my husband knew who was passionate about cars. We had a look at his cars and picked this particular one for our wedding day. But on the day, he arrived in a different car; it was more like half a car, it was tiny. But he was such a lovely man and was so enthusiastic; he’d only just got that car, and he just wanted to drive it. So, we squashed into the car. We had around 70 guests, the standard family, extended family and friends. At the church, I walked down the aisle to In a Country Churchyard by Chris de Burgh — I was a huge fan. The priest was a good friend, so he bent the rules a little on the music we were able to play in the church at the time.

Afterwards, we were driving in the tiny car between Ballinteer and Sutton, and we had to go through the toll bridge. There were some complications. We had no money because obviously, we were getting married, and it wasn’t something we thought about. And I don’t think the driver had any money on him either. My husband said he thought they’d open the barrier for us as we were obviously a wedding car and a bride and groom, but there was some difficulty, although in the end they did open the barrier!

We had our photos on the beach, which we could access from the hotel. Our photographer was a bit inexperienced; I don’t think he’d done a wedding before.

Martina Murphy: "My sisters were my bridesmaids, and they wore a typical bridesmaid dress, again with the poofy sleeves, and a lovely floral fabric. Colm’s brothers were his groomsmen."

So, we’d be saying things like: “You might want to get that into the photograph?” and he’d say: “oh yeah, good idea”. But still, they turned out really well.

The afters went well. We all made speeches and then we took to the floor. Our first dance was to Wonderful Tonight by Eric Clapton, which would have been big at the time. And then, because it was 35 years ago, we were leaving for our honeymoon straight from the party.

I remember for our leaving outfits, we both, for some reason, were wearing trench coats — they were in fashion at the time I think — and everyone was calling us the Columbos after the famous TV detective.

We stayed in the airport hotel that night and the next morning we flew to England. We were both big soccer fans and we were going to see the Ireland v England game at Wembley with a friend. But then the three of us ended up in the English fans section and we were getting abused. One fan must have seen this going on and he came down and asked us if we wanted to switch seats with him to an area where it was a bit safer. So we did.

Then we flew to Italy for the rest of our honeymoon. We started in Rome, and when we were there, the Trevi Fountain was broken, the Colosseum was closed, and then we visited Pisa and the Leaning Tower was closed too. At this stage we just thought it was all so funny. You know, we were on honeymoon and we were just so happy to be together.

• Martina Murphy is a best-selling author living in Dublin. Her 26th novel The Taken is the sixth novel in the DS Lucy Golden series, and is in all bookshops now.