Overseas weddings are on the wane since the demise of the Celtic Tiger, with couples reluctant to impose travel costs on guests, according to the president of the Irish Travel Agents Association.

A Dublin couple who spent thousands on a dream wedding in a romantic village in northern Italy discovered two years later that they were not married at all, a court has heard.

Thriving sales this year have led a number of airlines, travel agents, and tour operators to launch a nationwide drive to recruit more than 100 staff.