Our Wedding Story: A proposal in Vienna and a wedding in Carlow

Peter Preedy & Sinead Hennebry

Sinead, who grew up in Kilkenny, always laughed at the idea of meeting someone at a wedding. So nobody was more surprised when, at her cousin’s wedding in 2012, she and the groom’s best friend hit it off.

“There was no romance on the wedding day but there must have been a connection as the next day at the BBQ Peter started introducing my dad as his future father-in-law. He maintains he was trying to be smooth,” laughs Sinead whose family moved back to Ireland when she was two after spending a few years in Sydney.

The couple’s first date – a six-day gastro tour of Dungarvan, Ballymaloe and Dingle – happened six weeks after that wedding.

At the time Sinead was living in Dublin and Peter, a Welshman, was in London where he works as a property consultant.

After flying between the two cities for two years, Sinead relocated to the UK with an Irish law firm for whom she works as head of marketing. The couple got engaged in Vienna – outside the opera house – and six months later, on August 22nd, 2015, they married at Borris House, Co Carlow.

The bride travelled there with her father Barry in Peter’s first car – “Hamish”, a vintage red Beetle which his mother Barbara drove from Wales for the occasion.

A favourite memory for the bride was her uncle's performance of Christy Moore's The Voyage during the ceremony.

Sinead’s brother flew from Melbourne and Peter’s father Bob travelled from Somerset. Her mother Fionnuala made the flavours – pots of homemade raspberry jam – and Peter’s godmother Alison spent the day before the wedding painting signposts to place around the venue.

After the meal catered by Eunice Power and two wedding cakes (one made of Lego and one of cheese), the highlight of the evening for the couple was the Camembert Quartet – “the best band I have ever seen at a wedding, even if I do say so myself”, according to Sinead.

Two days later, the newlyweds flew to Santorini for six days and over Christmas and new year they spent a month in Africa, volunteering with a lion conservation project, climbing to see the mountain gorillas and visiting South Africa and Zanzibar.

Photograph: Chris Huston, chrishustonphoto.co.uk Sarah Geraghty