Magazine hopes to triple its sales this week

Hello! magazine hopes to triple its normal Irish circulation when the Nicky Byrne-Georgina Ahern wedding edition goes on sale today.

The company has printed 200,000 copies for Ireland, north and south, compared with 70,000 normally. The total print run for the latest issue will be 800,000, according to publishing editor Ms Sally Cartwright.

The British run had been increased "because there was big interest here in the last Westlife wedding", she said.

In today's edition, the magazine says the Taoiseach made a 15-minute speech at the wedding reception and told Georgina: "I thank you for all the joy you brought into my life".

He told the guests that Georgina and her sister Cecelia were his "closest friends" The magazine said he then turned to his wife, from whom he is separated, and said "Miriam, I thank you from the bottom of my heart for that'."

RTE's Dustin the Turkey was among the artists providing entertainment at the wedding. The wedding cake had nine tiers, one for each year the couple have been together.

Ms Ahern wore what is described as a white silk crepe "hour glass corset dress" with diagonal seams made from 20,000 cut glass crystal beads and a six-foot train.

The groom wore a "cream fine wool boot-legged suit and brocade waistcoat". The groomsmen are described as wearing "deep purple lightweight mohair suits".

At the church service, the Taoiseach's brother, Mr Noel Ahern TD, read a prayer for the faithful for world peace. The magazine said Mr Ahern "can only have been thinking of his brother, the Prime Minister, who brokered the peace accord in Northern Ireland."

In an interview conducted before the wedding, the magazine asked whether there was any move from her father to bring along "the party faithful"

"Absolutely not. There are no politicians coming, My father is a private man as well and he sees this as a strictly family day," Ms Ahern said.

The magazine asked the couple "Do you think that many Irish people will be disappointed that your wedding proper is not being held in Ireland." Mr Byrne said: "We've been knocked for not having it there which really hurt because I can honestly say, with my hand on my heart, that there is not a couple that I know that is as proud to be Irish as we are. . . There are only a handful who wrote about us not having the wedding in Ireland and they are not friends, so who cares?"

The couple said they had searched the Internet for a suitable venue and chose the Chateau d'Esclimont from a shortlist of 15 chateaus.

Of the magazine's 142 pages, 38 are devoted to the wedding, for which the publishers bought the exclusive rights.

The deal attracted widespread criticism both in the Irish media and from local people in the French village of Gallardon, angry at their exclusion. The agreement apparently extended to the Taoiseach, since he was not available for photographers during the event.