`A blessed sandwich" was how casting director Ros Hubbard described the marriage of her daughter Amy Hubbard to Andrew McClean last weekend. Ros and husband John Hubbard were celebrating their 30th wedding anniversary on Saturday while Andrew's parents Doug and Nancy McClean celebrated their 32nd anniversary on the Thursday. So there was a real feeling of romance in the air when Amy and Drew tied the knot in Dingle. The ceremony was in the westernmost parish of Europe at Dun Chaoin, but that was nothing to the distance that friends had travelled to get to the ceremony. Doug and Nancy are now retired and living in Mexico and their friends flew in from Singapore, the US, England and Canada; while Amy's brother Dan Hubbard had to hop on a plane from Alaska, where he was working on a film. Fuchsia was the theme of the day, as those flowers are almost over-the-top in their exuberance on the peninsula at this time of the year. Wreaths of fuchsia decorated the church while the bridesmaids' dresses, concocted by Vivienne Westwood and Marc O'Neill, were in vibrant shades of red, pink and purple with matching Jimmy Choo shoes. Amy's dress was also by Westwood and required a last-minute trip to London for a final fitting to ensure it remained, well, decent for the day.
Ros earned herself an impromptu standing ovation when she walked up the aisle in a Richard Lewis number with a stunning feathered titfer, which she and Richard picked out in the Hat Studio on Dublin's Clarendon Street.
Amy, who now works with National Geographic TV in London, and Drew, who is an advertising executive with Young and Rubicam, met in Trinity when she was studying history and he was over from the US as an exchange student. So there were many old college friends there, including bridesmaids Lucinda Thornley and Hannah Moore (the third, Kate Buxton was a longtime friend from London). Actor Dominic West flew in from Paris where, rumour had it, he had been dining with Demi Moore the night before, while Tracey O'Riordan, who now works in television in London, rejoiced in the fact that she had introduced the pair to each other at her Kerry home all those years ago.
Kevin McClean, the groom's brother and one of the best men arrived from New York - he too went to Trinity and is now a big shot in the advertising world.
Director Alan Parker, who is in Ireland casting for Angela's Ashes, was there with his fiancee Lisa Moran. She is hard at work getting their newly acquired house in London ready while Alan is trying to find somewhere dingy enough in Ireland to use as the setting for Frank McCourt's story: "It's all being re-built so quickly," he groaned despairingly.
Actress Pauline McLynn arrived after the ceremony with husband Richard Cook of Bickerstaffe; they added another tally to the romantic weekend as they celebrated their first wedding anniversary on Saturday.