My Wedding Day with Aoife O'Sullivan: We had 220 guests — GAA alone made the numbers go up

Former Miss Ireland Aoife O'Sullivan tells Deirdre McArdle about her wedding to Cork hurler Colm Spillane

Aoife O'Sullivan and Colm Spillane on their wedding day

Tue, 06 Oct, 2026 - 20:00

Deirdre McArdle

We got married on June 21, 2024. We had the wedding in Kilkenny. Neither of us has any connection with Kilkenny — I’m from Ballinadee in West Cork and Colm is from Castle Lyons, not far from Fermoy. But once we visited the Mount Juliet Estate we fell in love with it and couldn’t imagine getting married anywhere else.

We had the ceremony in St Colmcille’s Church in the beautiful village of Inistioge, Kilkenny. The movie Circle of Friends was filmed there. The church itself is beautiful with a river just outside it. And it wasn’t far from Mount Juliet, it was perfect.

It was a big wedding. I think we had 220 on the day. That was the hotel’s maximum — we probably would have gone over that number! My husband Colm played GAA at the time, and he played with a lot of different teams. So that alone makes the numbers go up. And I come from a big family — my dad is one of 10 siblings.

I did all the planning myself. I loved every minute of it. I’m chronically online and I love sites like Pinterest, so it was right up my street.

I’ve been modelling at bridal shows since I was 19 and worked with White and Gold boutique in Kinsale as a wedding dress model for their website. I’ve probably tried on hundreds of dresses in that time. So, if anything I probably had too much information. I went shopping with my mom and my friend in White and Gold and I said, “I’m getting my dress today”. I was determined.

I went for a Bardot-style fitted dress with a removable skirt. So, I had a dramatic skirt going up the aisle, and then I took it off and it was more of a fitted silhouette for the evening.

It was so funny, the day before the wedding was a scorcher of a day. And the day after was gorgeous, but on the day of the wedding it poured. We didn’t get stressed about it though because Mount Juliet is just so beautiful inside, and we knew we would have gorgeous photos despite the weather.

On the morning of the wedding, before the busyness began, I took some time to myself. I remember looking out the window and the rain was starting and I thought “it doesn’t matter, I’m just so happy to be marrying Colm and that all my family are here”. I took that moment to be grateful and to enjoy it.

Music is an important thing in my life, I enjoy music and play the guitar, so I was conscious that I wanted good music throughout the day. We had the Swing Cats, who are renowned as being a very good wedding band.

And in the church, we had a fabulous male opera singer called Glen Murphy. He was on The Ellen DeGeneres Show and he sang with Adele. I liked him from then, and I remember that as soon as we engaged, I messaged him asking if he did weddings. And he was so wonderful.

And for day two, this is random, but I was at EP the summer before, and we were at a small tent, and there was a guy on stage called Neolithic, and he was brilliant. I went up to him after and asked, "would you play at my wedding?” And he said, "no problem” and I booked him for day two.

We had our drinks reception in The Manor House in Mount Juliet. It’s absolutely gorgeous there, charming. We had a jazz musician during the drinks. I loved that part of the day.

After the food and the speeches we had our first dance to Until I Found You by Stephen Sanchez. The year we got engaged that song was being played a lot and it reminded us of that happy time, so it was the perfect song.

The band were phenomenal. They had everyone out dancing. And we had a real mix of older and younger guests, but they appealed to everyone. The dance floor was packed for the night. And then we moved back to the bar and there were sing-songs — at one stage someone was singing Cher and songs from High School Musical! We didn't get to bed until maybe four in the morning.

One of my favourite memories of the day was when we came into the room for the meal, you know the bride and groom entrance. I just remember it was almost in slow motion, just walking through and seeing everyone we are so close to and everyone you love in the same room. It was so special.