JOANNE McCARTHY AND Gareth Eklof were married in the Church of St Finbarr and the Holy Angels in Inchigeela, Co Cork, on August 7th by Fr Robert Brophy, a native of Inchigeela.
Joanne grew up in Droumcarra in the parish of Iveleary. She is the daughter of Carmel and Ted McCarthy and has four sisters and one brother. She went to primary school in Kilbarry, and secondary school in Macroom before qualifying as a nurse in 2002. She now works in the Bon Secours Hospital in Cork. Her sisters, Marie and Clare, were her bridesmaids.
Gareth grew up in Dún Laoghaire and Blackrock, Co Dublin, and is the son of Tony and Clare Eklof. He has one brother, Cormac, his best man. He was educated at the Dalkey School Project and Newpark Comprehensive College in Blackrock, before studying Irish in Trinity College. He trained to be a primary school teacher in Aberystwyth in Wales and now teaches in Scoil Náisiúnta Réidh na nDoirí in the Múscraí Gaeltacht in Co Cork.
His groomsman was his friend Joe Kennedy, who travelled from Manchester for the wedding. (The groom is photographed above, in the doorway with the bridesmaids.)
The couple met in the summer of 2002 while Gareth was teaching an Irish college course in Baile Bhúirne, Co Cork. After a lot of travelling to and fro between Cork and Dublin, Joanne decided to move to Dublin two years later. They became engaged in August 2007 when Gareth dropped down on one knee at Glencar Waterfall on the Sligo-Leitrim border. They then began planning the wedding and also started building their house on a site in Inchigeela given to them by Joanne’s parents. They moved to Cork last summer. “Luckily Gareth is settling into the country way of life,” says Joanne.
Music in the church was provided by Joanne’s sisters Caroline and Carmel and her brother Cal. Local piper Dan O’Callaghan also entertained the gathering. Gareth’s father’s family travelled from the US to celebrate the special day and Gareth’s grandfather, who celebrated his 90th birthday in May, also attended the wedding. Gareth and Joanne went to Sicily for a week after the wedding and then flew to Rome before taking a Mediterranean cruise. Upon their return, they moved into their newly-built home in Inchigeela.