MARIA KINSELLA AND Chris Wood were married on July 17th in St Camillus Hospital registry office in Limerick by Louie Quirk, with their families in attendance and their brothers Michael Kinsella and Steve Wood as witnesses. Later they went to Jim Cronin’s organic farm in Bridgetown, Co Clare, where the rest of their guests were waiting. There they exchanged rings and said their vows in a ceremony they devised themselves.
Maria grew up in Dooradoyle, outside Limerick, and is the daughter of Mary and Michael Kinsella. She attended St Paul’s Primary School, Scoil Carmel Secondary School and then the University of Limerick, where she received a BSc in applied physics. She is currently teaching second-level maths privately.
Chris grew up in Staines, outside London, and is the son of Les Wood and Joyce Marshall. His stepfather is Jeff Marshall. He moved to Ireland when he was 21 and busked on Grafton Street for many years. He teaches guitar and runs a songwriters’ open mic night called Three Songs in the White House pub in Limerick. He also works part-time on an organic farm.
The couple were introduced by a mutual friend, Kitty Quinn, who thought they might busk together. During their first and only "rehearsal", in June 2004, Maria asked if they could take a break as she was quite tired. "I had already registered quite a strong interest in Chris, so when he said he would play something soothing I gave him my full attention. I nearly hit the roof when I heard him playing the opening notes of Recuerdos de la Alhambra. Barely keeping it together until he finished the song, I blurted out 'Will you marry me' at the end. He said yes and, five years later, we did. We never went busking."
Jim Cronin, his partner Rebecca and son Eanna allowed the couple to “take over” their farm, where Chris works, for a week. The landscape gardener Rachel Lamb, also a regular volunteer on the farm, transformed it with flowers and paper lanterns, which were “magically” lit at disk. The bride’s dress was made by a school friend of 27 years, Siobhan Madigan, and her bouquet included a mix of sweet pea from the farm and roses from her mother’s garden. The “flower children” were Georgia Mae and Marla Wood and Saoirse and Peter O’Gorman, and they carried wildflowers that were picked by the bride that morning while walking the dog.
The couple sang during the ceremony, including a song written by Chris, Flow River Flow, and Recuerdos de la Alhambra.
Afterwards they had champagne and canapes provided by another friend, Sarah Wolfe, who grew up beside the bride and now has her own catering business.
They later had a roast pig cooked for nine hours by two friends, Mark Hennessey and Eoin Fitzgerald, sourced from John and Olive Forde’s organic farm in Newmarket, Co Cork.
Chris made their wedding cake, and their friend Anne Kennedy agreed to act as manager throughout the day, making sure everything ran smoothly. The bride says everyone there contributed to making it different, special and memorable.
They went to Cornwall for a week afterwards. “We ate lots of cream teas and generally chilled out after the hectic weeks that went before. And we also got plenty of inspiration for gardening projects for the future at Heligan and Trevarno gardens and the Eden Project.” They live in Kylemore, Ennistymon, Co Clare.