No low fare as O’Leary gets hitched

RYANAIR boss Michael O’Leary will abandon his no-frills policy today when he walks down the aisle with Anita Farrell in the parish church at Killulagh, Co Westmeath.

The wedding ceremony takes place close to O'Leary's Georgian Gigginstown House estate in Mullingar and will be attended by more than 300 guests.

The reception back at Gigginstown will be a lavish affair with O'Leary cutting no costs for the big bash that will be held in four marquees on the grounds of the estate. There is a marquee each for the champagne reception, dining, dancing and relaxing.

Builders have been working around the clock to get the house ready in time for the wedding a swimming pool and new court yard have recently been completed.

The guests will enjoy a four-course meal that includes two starters of fresh asparagus and a seafood mix. The main course is steak and will be followed by a Bailey's cheese cake for dessert.

Tánaiste Mary Harney and Ryanair founder Tony Ryan will be among the many high profile guests from the worlds of business and politics at the wedding. Every hotel and B&B in Mullingar was booked out yesterday as guests began arriving in the midlands town.

"There's a great buzz around the place about the wedding and I would think there will be a lot of people outside the church looking at Michael and his wife today," Mullingar chamber of commerce spokesman Pat Davitt said.

O'Leary has hired a jazz band and a covers group to play some of his favourite U2 and Bruce Springsteen songs at the reception. The 42-year-old's engagement to Anita Farrell, 30, of Blackrock, Co Dublin, sparked intense speculation on the stock exchange last May.

Three years ago, Ryanair shares took a dip after it emerged that O'Leary was set to wed Denise Dowling, a secretary, at a church in Mullingar. The shares plummeted to 7.75 before hitting 9.00 after the wedding was cancelled at short notice.

This time, the country's most eligible bachelor and 10th-richest man was a winner all the way, as the share price made a 1.56% gain to close at 5.86 after the announcement.

Ms Farrell works in the Dublin headquarters of Citigroup, one of the world's largest financial services companies.

It's believed they had been seeing each other for over a year before they got engaged.

Never one to arrive early it remains to be seen if O'Leary will make it to the altar on time today. Running on schedule doesn't seem to come easy to Ryanair, as O'Leary was 40 minutes late for last year's high-profile Katie Magnier wedding in Fethard, Co Tipperary. Even the bride arrived 20 minutes before the Ryanair boss that day.