A Dublin Wedding: Alan Hughes and Karl Broderick’s Special Day
We got married,or had our civil partnership,on September 30,2011. We had two ceremonies, really: The civil partnership in 2011, and then, after the referendum, when we were able to get married, we upgraded to a full marriage. But the big, actual ceremony was in 2011.
We had the ceremony in the Unitarian Church on Stephen’s Green, and our reception was in the Round Room at the mansion House. It was a funny story there, as Karl and I were both thinking, ‘Where should we get married?’ And then, simultaneously occurring, we both said, ‘The Mansion House.’
So we phoned them and asked if they were free on september 30. this was in May,and we knew we had to move the wedding along,because my sister wasn’t well,and Karl’s sister wasn’t well,and we wanted to make sure they were there.
Anyway, the Mansion House said, ‘No, September 30 is not free’. We were about to hang up, and they said, ‘This is for next year, isn’t it?’ and we said, ‘No, this year.’ They checked, and September 30 was free – it was meant to be!
The night before the wedding, we stayed at the Morgan Hotel with our families and close friends. We booked a lot of rooms there. On the morning of the wedding, everybody was walking around in their dressing gowns; there was no big rush to do anything; it was really relaxed.
And I remember my sister, who passed away since, said to me, ‘I feel like I’ve been away for a week.’ Paul and Lisa Fitzpatrick, who own the hotel, really looked after us. It was just lovely and relaxed, and that was the tone we wanted to set for the day.
The ceremony was gorgeous; we had the Dublin Gospel Choir, and we had Brian Kennedy singing. He sang the song “Somewhere” from West Side Story, accompanied by Cormac de Barra, a well-known harpist, and everyone got choked up during that. I was crying when we were saying our vows; it was incredibly emotional.
After that, everybody walked through stephen’s Green from the church across to the Mansion House. It was such a lovely atmosphere; people were singing and dancing across Stephen’s Green.