Couple vow to make Ireland 41st wedding venue
A couple exchanging wedding vows for the 41st time have chosen a ceremony in the West of Ireland for their latest special occasion.
Alex Pelling, 31, and Lisa Gant, 29, from Manchester, England, have been travelling the world experiencing different types of weddings, including a Mayan ceremony in Mexico and a tribal event in Panama, where all guests had to go semi-naked.
Luckily they won’t have to bare all when they get married on Doonbeg beach in Co Clare on Tuesday as the weather is unlikely to be as balmy as they are.
Alex and Lisa will take part in a traditional Pagan Handfasting ceremony. This is an ancient Celtic tradition in which each partner holds the hands of the other with their wrists crossed.
A ribbon is then wound around the wrists over the top of one and under and around the other, creating the infinity symbol. The practice led to the expression “tying the knot”.
Helping them do so is wedding planner Lindsay Moynagh, whose website flyawaybride.com caught the couple’s eye. “It’s hectic,” she says. “We will have a team of about 14 people on the day and it will be quite a production. Everyone has been fantastic, giving everything from flowers, clothes and food for the occasion free of charge.”
The ceremony will be conducted by Ireland’s best known Celtic priest, Dara Molloy. Last week Alex and Lisa were hitched in a Druid ceremony in Wales and next week they will be in Scotland, wearing traditional kilts.
The journey of love and marriage for Alex and Lisa began in June, 2011. Alex will never forget the day he met and fell in love with her.
“She stood against a green radiator, with waist length light blond hair (natural not peroxide!) in a mustard yellow top, washed out denim blue flairs and red pumps on her feet… It was like being on acid checking out a really sexy Tinker Bell.”
It was at that moment that Alex knew he had found the love of his life. “She was perfect for me. She took my breath away.”
He was so delighted when Lisa agreed to marry him that he could not settle for just one wedding, so the couple decided to live out their dreams. They threw caution to the wind, sold all of their possessions and decided to set off on the adventure of a lifetime, getting married along the way.
Their first ceremony was held in Manchester, where they live. It was a secret wedding that Alex planned and came as a complete surprise to Lisa, but she is thrilled at their adventures so far.
While their achievement so far is unique, don’t expect to see it in the Guinness Book of world Records. A spokesperson said an actual marriage licence will not be issued until their final wedding.
- For more on Alex and Lisa’s adventures, visit 2people1life.com
