NAOMI KEANE AND Andy Cullen, both from Dublin, were married on February 21st at the Church of the Most Holy Rosary in Abbeyleix, Co Laois, by Fr Pádraig Kehoe. Friends and family celebrated with them over the weekend at Castle Durrow.
Although the traditional group Celtic Breeze played Haste to the Weddingas they walked down the aisle, the couple have been together for eight years and have two young children, Cian (four), and Aaron (almost two).
“We did things in reverse order,” says Andy, “house, kids, wedding. We always planned to get married, but were busy concentrating on everything else.” They became engaged on St Stephen’s Day last year. Cian acted as their pageboy and carried the rings down the aisle.
Andy works for Pfizer Pharmaceuticals in Dún Laoghaire, Dublin as a front-line manager. He grew up in Firhouse, attended Firhouse Community College and has a BA in manufacturing from the Institute of Technology in Tallaght (ITT). His parents, Michael and Joan Cullen, are both deceased – they were remembered during the ceremony. His brothers Derek and Paul acted as groomsmen along with the bride’s brother, Colin.
Naomi is the daughter of Michael and Anne-Marie Keane from Sutton, Co Dublin, and attended Manor House School in Raheny. Like her husband, she graduated from ITT in Tallaght although they did not meet as students. She has a BA in business studies and marketing and works as an underwriter for Allied Irish Bank. Her sisters Yvonne and Rachel acted as her attendants, along with her aunt, Lorna Walsh.
Their wedding day was sunny and mild and their reception began with music by a two-piece band from Arklow called Wallop the Pot. “Nearly everyone” got up and made a speech after dinner and the groom’s two uncles regaled the crowd with Elvis Presley and Joe Dolan numbers. There was “no coaxing necessary” as everyone took to the dance floor.
The couple left Castle Durrow on Sunday to spend three nights with their children in the Sheraton Hotel in Athlone. The following weekend, the boys stayed with their grandparents in Sutton while the newlyweds spent the weekend as tourists in Dublin, staying at the Shelbourne Hotel and doing all the things they had recommended to visitors but never done themselves, including visiting Kilmainham Jail, the Guinness Hopstore and having fish and chips at Burdocks. “We couldn’t have had a better city break anywhere,” said Andy.
They live in Baldoyle, Co Dublin and hope to go to Chicago and Disneyland later in the year.