Gaybo toasts couple at first pub wedding

GAY BYRNE and his wife Kathleen Watkins raised their glasses yesterday as locals in Killarney toasted the first-ever pub wedding.

The pair joined regulars at the well-known Laurels hostelry, in Killarney, where Mayo-born Mervyn McHugh, 36, and Polish woman Gosia Klinaszewska, 31, made history.

They exchanged vows in a civil ceremony conducted by Kerry registrar Mary Teresa O’Shea.

Broadcasting legend Gaybo and Kathleen, who happened to be in the pub at the time, extended warm wishes to the happy couple.

Mervyn, who is quality assurance manager with the Eurofoil pharmaceutical print company in Ballyvourney, Co Cork, first met Gosia a year ago through work colleagues.

But it was during a subsequent holiday in Gdansk that their relationship blossomed, he said.

Procedures allowing weddings to take place outside registry offices came into force on November 5 last, after the marriage provisions of the Civil Registration Act 2004 were introduced.

Asked why they chose a pub for the ceremony, Mervyn, from Claremorris, replied: “The Laurels is our local and we also like to try something new. It is a relaxed setting and a sort of one-stop shop as we’re also having our reception on the premises. We’re having an absolutely fantastic day.”

The wedding was attended by 30 guests, with a party in from Poland that included Gosia’s mother, brothers and sisters.

Celebrations continued later with a champagne reception at the couple’s house in Ballyspillane, Killarney. They will be heading off to Thailand for a two-week honeymoon, later this month.

Gosia, who looked radiant in a cream Belgian designer wedding dress, is a qualified teacher but works with Mervyn in Eurofoil.

For his new bride, Mervyn wrote a shortpoem that included the lines: From lands afar across the sea, my lady’s hand, my destiny/ We walked the sands of Baltic Sea, when tides did change you spoke to me.