Gardaí get bride to church on time
Maureen Dennehy, 30, from Lover’s Walk in Cork, was given a garda escort through the tight security in place for the Queen’s visit, to the Church of the Holy Spirit in Dennehy’s Cross, where she tied the knot with Alan McGill, 33, from Swords in Co Dublin.
It was one of several city weddings yesterday which gardaí helped facilitate.
Dozens of Maureen and Alan’s wedding guests who were staying at the Imperial Hotel were also bussed through the cordon to the church and back again to the hotel for the reception.
Maureen, a Dublin-based solicitor with RSA Insurance, met Alan, a Revenue solicitor, while they were studying law in Blackhall Place. Alan proposed last October and the wedding date was set months before the Queen’s visit to Cork was confirmed.
Maureen said it was only in the last few days that she began to worry about how the security restrictions would impact on her big day. “I’m not really one for panicking but I was beginning to worry about how we would get our guests, a lot of whom came from Dublin, across the city to the church,” she said.
“But the manager in the Imperial, Joe Kennedy, said ‘leave it all in my hands’. He’s been absolutely brilliant.”
Mr Kennedy admitted: “It was a challenge — we usually don’t get involved in transport for people’s weddings. But this is different; this is special, and we were delighted to help the couple, who were a pleasure to deal with.”
Despite the traffic restrictions and security yesterday, Maureen looked calm and radiant as she arrived at the church. She wore a Pronovia one-shoulder mermaid-style ivory dress, and was helped by her bridesmaids, her sister Jennifer and Kate and Heather Cronin.
Inside, Alan was waiting with his best man and brother, Brendan, and groomsmen Adrian McGill and Tony Kiernan.
Maureen said it was a great day and she was also delighted the city looked so well.
“It was nice to show Cork off at its best to our guests,” she said.
The couple will head off on honeymoon to LA tomorrow.
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