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Cupid’s arrow strikes for surfers
H
HER colleagues at the Aghadoe Heights Hotel & Spa welcomed newlywed Patrice Hayes back to work recently after the assistant sales and marketing manager returned from her honeymoon.
Patrice, from Beale, wed Ballybunion native Declan O’Mahony in St John’s Church, Ballybunion, in a Mass led by local parish priest Father Noel Spring. After posing for the cameras of Killarney wedding photographers Evelyn and Keith Woodard on Ballybunion beach and cliffs, they re-joined their guests at the reception in the Listowel Arms Hotel.
Patrice and Declan, a civil engineer with Kerry County Council, first met one sunny summer’s evening in August 2010 whilst surfing in Ballybunion Beach. “Declan had just moved home after a six-month trip to Australia and we smiled and said hello out in the surf. We met a couple of more times surfing before having our first date,” said Patrice.
“Just before Christmas 2015, we went for a walk on Ballybunion Beach when Declan went down on one knee and popped the question! It was a complete surprise and made even more special by the fact that it happened at the place where it all began and also had our first kiss!”
ON their wedding day, the bride wore an ivory Pronovias Olivana gown purchased at Áibhéal of Adare in Limerick and the groom sported a navy Louis Copeland suit.
Both sets of parents, Catherine and Thomas Hayes and Mary and Denis O’Mahony helped the newlyweds celebrate. Also lending their support were Patrice’s sister and maid of honour Catríona Farac and her sisters Áine and Breda Hayes and cousin Dee Keating (bridesmaids), as well as Declan’s friend and best man John Fitzgerald, friends PJ Breen and Brendan O’Connell and brother-in-law Michael Farac groomsmen).
The bride’s goddaughter Kathryn Farac joined forces with her niece Emer O’Connor in the role of flowergirls. For their honeymoon, the newlyweds enjoyed a surfing trip in Bali and Lombok in Indonesia for two weeks in July, followed by a few nights in Dubai on the way home. The newlyweds are currently residing in Beale.
Above: Patrice and Declan. Picture: The Woodards