CIARA HENEY AND Stephen Horyn were married in St Patrick’s Church, Wicklow town, by Fr Hugh Kavanagh on July 18th. They and their guests celebrated afterward with a reception in the Grand Hotel in Wicklow town.
Ciara, from Rathmines in Dublin, is the daughter of James Heney and Grace Magnier. She trained as an osteopath and has worked in the UK, Swaziland and Sri Lanka.
Stephen is from Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada, where he studied for his Bachelor of Education degree. He worked for a number of years as an elementary school teacher in Canada.
Despite the many countries and continents they clocked up between them, it took an encounter in a Dublin pub to bring the couple together. Stephen had formerly spent two weeks visiting a friend in Dundalk. So impressed was he with the Irish culture and way of life that he decided in 2006 to take leave of absence for a year from his job in Canada to come and live here. He found work as a teacher of students with special needs in Palmerstown.
By that stage, Ciara was back in Ireland and was in the process of setting up an osteopathy practice in Wicklow. The pair met just before St Patrick’s Day in 2007, in the Mercantile on Dame Street. They were both out with friends, when Stephen noticed Ciara from across the room and introduced himself to her. The relationship grew from there.
Just over a year later, on March 25th, 2008, they were on a holiday together in Treviso, Italy. “We were in a small restaurant and the waiter didn’t speak a word of English,” Stephen recalls.
“He brought us out samples of the food so we could point and order. I wasn’t sure when I would propose – I just wanted to do it in Italy. The restaurant wasn’t busy, we were the only ones there. It seemed like the perfect moment. I asked the waiter to take our picture and then asked Ciara if she would like to spend the rest of our lives together.”
They decided to get married in Wicklow, where Ciara had her business. Friends and relatives travelled from Canada and as far afield as Argentina for the day.
After a honeymoon in Spain and Portugal – Granada, Cordoba and Lagos – they returned to Canada for more celebrations.
Stephen is now teaching elementary physical education in Camrose, Alberta, Canada, and Ciara is setting up a practice there. They have just bought a house in Camrose, and will move in when they return in August.