Finally, couples are going to the chapel and they are going to get married

Like London buses, you wait two years for weddings, and then they all come along at once.

The last two years have been fraught for engaged couples. Thousands have postponed their plans, many repeatedly, because of Covid-19 restrictions.

Others had to contend with weddings dramatically smaller than they had hoped for.

This year is the first since 2019 that couples have been able to plan in the knowledge, though not certainty, that weddings will take place as planned.

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The alacrity with which many couples are booking their weddings in 2022 is reflected in the latest figures from Accord, the Catholic marriage advisory service.

In 2021, almost 13,000 attended Accord’s sacramental marriage preparation online, a per cent increase on 2020.

So far this year there has been a 39 per cent increase in enrolments following the lifting of restrictions. Churches are booked out and the wedding industry is returning to life.

Four couples; Sinead Lyons and Brendan Mullen, Aisling McEntee and Daniel Queeney, Heather Andrews and Josh Warde and Laura Fitzpatrick and Colm Humphries, took part in the annual blessing of the rings at the Shrine of St Valentine in Dublin on Saturday.

A luckless couple, who twice had to postpone their wedding because of Covid-19, were unable to attend because they have the virus.

The shrine is in many ways one of Dublin’s best kept secrets.

St Valentine's bones were given to a Carmelite priest Fr John Spratt in 1835 and he brought them back to Dublin where they now reside in a box under the side altar of Our Lady of Mount Carmel Church in Whitefriar Street.

Accord vice-president, Bishop Michael Router, performed the ceremony and also handed each couple a St Brigid's Cross, a traditional token of love often presented to newly-weds on their wedding day.

He noted that more than half of all Irish couples marry in the Catholic Church.

“It may not be as important in the traditional sense, but it is important to mark all those important milestones in life. People have a strong belief in the presence of the Lord with them in those particular moments,” he said.

Bishop Router referred to the challenges facing many couples wishing to get married most notably the housing crisis.

“Rents are more than €2,000 for young people in Dublin. This is an unsustainable amount of money to have to pay. It is such a pity they can’t put that money towards a deposit. I would encourage all those who have the power to do so to bring down rents,” he said.

Ms Lyons and Mr Mullen met at the Fleadh Cheoil 2012. It’s been a long road to the altar for their wedding, which will take place in Rome on April 19th.

“We are so grateful that the Bishop has been able to bless our rings. The Catholic faith means a lot to us and the sacrament of marriage is the next step on our journey together,” Ms Lyons said.

Ms Andrews, who works in Intel and Mr Warde, a GAA development officer, will be getting married in the summer of 2023. They got engaged on November 27th after eight years together.

“It’s really important to get the blessing especially after everything that happened in the last few years,” she said.

“It has made us look forward even more to getting married and spending the rest of our lives together.”

Mr Warde said the blessing of the rings will give them another occasion to remember Valentine’s Day with fondness.