My Wedding Day with Máire Uí Rabhartaigh: Our church ceremony was all 'as Gaeilge'

The buzz in the house that morning was just great. All my aunties had come over and their kids, and, of course, my own sisters and parents. I was really enjoying all the chats and the laughs

Máire Uí Rabhartaigh and her husband Martin on their wedding day on June 25, 1988.

Tue, 25 Aug, 2026 - 20:00

Deirdre McArdle

We got married on June 25, 1988; it’s 38 years ago now. I was only 22 at the time; a child. We both feel like we’re still the same as we were back then, and it’s only when I see the date of our wedding that I remember how long ago it was.

We had the ceremony in St Mary’s Star of the Sea church in Annagry in Donegal. I grew up in the Gaeltacht village of Ranafast in Annagry. The church ceremony was all ‘as Gaeilge’, because both of us, and our families, speak Gaelic.

Our reception was in Óstán Ghaoth Dobhair (Óstán Gweedore), a beautiful, beachfront hotel in Bunbeg in Donegal. It was up on a hill looking down on the sea and the beach. It was a new hotel at the time, but, sadly, it doesn’t exist anymore.

We had invited about 250 people to the wedding, and, I’d say, about 210 made it on the day. In those days, you just organised everything yourself. Picking the date was the most important thing, really. We chose June 25, because our families both got busy in the heart of the summer: Martin’s family ran An Óige, in Dunlewey, and my parents would have been keeping Gaeltacht students during July, so June made sense.

I think it was easier in those days to organise everything. We started planning about six months beforehand. When it came to dress shopping, I had no idea what I wanted. Myself and my sister went to McElhinneys, in Ballybofey, to try on dresses. At the time, because everybody would have known everybody, if someone chose a wedding dress, it was taken off the rails, so people we knew didn’t end up wearing the same dress.

I tried on several dresses, but kept coming back to the first one, which was a beautiful silk dress with a baby pink coloured belt. It had a big skirt, with a net and hoop underneath to puff it out. My sister, who was my bridesmaid, wore a dress that was the same colour as the belt on my wedding dress. Everything was so relaxed during the planning stage. The only thing I remember is we had to do a pre-marriage course, and we were playing it a bit tight to get that done before the day, and, of course, you had to have that signed before you could get married.

The morning of the wedding was a beautiful day. It was as warm a day as I can remember in Donegal. I was in my family home, and I had mixed emotions: I was happy and excited, but I was also crying, because I knew it would be the last time I would live in my parents’ house. It felt very final. I remember saying to my sister: “It’ll only be you now here with mam and dad,” and she was saying, “Sure, you’re only going to be up the road!”.

When the videographer called at the door, I answered it and I still had tears in my eyes. He said to me: “Go back inside there now and dry your tears and come back our here with a smile” and I did.

The buzz in the house that morning was just great. All my aunties had come over and their kids, and, of course, my own sisters and parents. I was really enjoying all the chats and the laughs.

When I got to the church with my dad, I was so excited, and seeing Martin up at the top of the church made me so happy. Before we walked up the aisle, I said to my dad: “Here we go!”.

After the ceremony, it felt like a weight had been lifted; we felt lighter, as we knew all we had to do then was enjoy the day.

We had a laugh during the speeches, when Martin’s brother, his best man, got up to read out all the cards and messages. He said: “Róisín is going to help me with this part.” Róisín, my sister, nearly died. She was reading cards with names she couldn’t pronounce and every time I looked at her I couldn’t stop laughing. She was like a rabbit in the headlights.

At the time, most couples in the area had Enda McMonagle; he was a one-man band, and he was brilliant. He really knew how to get everyone up dancing and keep the dance floor full all night. Our first dance song was Can I Have This Dance for the Rest of My Life, by Daniel O’Donnell.

In those days, the bride and groom usually changed in to a going-away outfit and left the wedding before the other guests. Myself and Martin did things a little differently; we didn’t change out of our outfits, but we left for about half and hour and went to a local pub, while some of the older guests went home.

Then, we returned to the hotel and changed and joined some of our guests in the local GAA hall for the Saturday night disco. The pressure was all off then and we were able to enjoy it all. We were there until the early hours of the morning!