Couple reorganise 240-guest wedding into secret ceremony amid Covid-19 crisis

Newlyweds Siobhan Daly and Jack Conroy from Johnstown in Co, Meath. Wedding photographer Evelyn McNamara

A couple who feared that coronavirus would cancel their dream wedding decided to take quick action and rearranged their lavish 240-guest affair for an intimate secret ceremony with 13 family members.

Newlyweds, Siobhan Daly and Jack Conroy from Johnstown in Co Meath, did not know until 9am on the morning of their wedding on March 16 whether it would actually go ahead due to changing restrictions.

Their wedding was due to take place on March 27 but fears that the C-19 crisis would prevent them from getting hitched at all spurred them to bring it forward.

Siobhan, a hat designer from Kilkenny, wore a €70 dress from Zara and Jack’’s parents viewed the nuptials via Zoom. Despite the upheaval, the couple describe the day as ’’magical’’: "It wasn’t the wedding either of us imagined but it turned out to be far better than that."

“We wanted to get married. Neither of us was prepared to put it off and we are so glad we did. We got married in a beautiful little church in Kilkenny and we loved every minute of it. It was so personal. It was hard that there were no hugs, my parents didn’t get to hug us and say congratulations or I didn’t get to hug my sisters-in-law but we made the most of it."

“Guests sat with the person they came with and they sat apart from other guests. Social distancing was really practised. My dad didn’t even get to shake Jack’s hand at the top of the aisle, there were no speeches — there was no first dance."

“We didn’t go for dinner afterwards because the restaurant I had booked cancelled the day before so my mam made dinner for us that evening and I sat watching Claire Byrne broadcasting from her shed in self-isolation with my wedding dress still on! Neither of us was fussed about having a large wedding — it was just important to us that we got married. We’ll have a blessing and a shindig after all this has blown over."

Siobhan describes the lead-up to the the ’’new’’ big day: "I was keeping a very good eye on the situation here, and I thought we weren’t going to make it to March 27. So then on Wednesday, March 11 — the night before Leo Varadkar announced a number of restrictions around social gatherings — we started talking about moving it to a different date."

“I obviously had my wedding dress but because we were still hoping that the 27th might happen I didn’t want to wear it. I got a gorgeous dress in Zara for €70 instead."

“On the Sunday, Jack’s parents, who would be in the at-risk category, rang and said that they weren’t going to come, I was devastated for him. I hadn’t cried once over this until we got that phone call. I rang the priest at 9am on the nose on the Monday morning and it wasn’t until he said ’’yeah that’s fine, I’ll see you at 4pm’’ that I knew for sure if we were getting married that day! So then I decided that I better start making the headpiece for my outfit."

“My dad drove me to the church. There were 13 people there and we got married. Jack’s brother-in-law set up Zoom in the church and Jack’s parents were on a laptop in the front row so they got to see it all."

“We have postponed our wedding now until March 16, 2021 so basically it will be our first anniversary and we are going to do the celebration as a mark of the survival of coming through all of this — and what a celebration it will be.”