Limerick couple celebrate their love and their hometown with novel nuptials

THERE was no church, hotel, bridesmaids, groomsmen, rings or even presents at Ali Daly and Colin McNamara’s wedding. But, if you ask them if they would do the exact same again, they would both say “I do”.

Ali, of Shelbourne Park, and Colin, from Raheen, organised their own unique Limerick city wedding celebration.

The ceremony was held in the People’s Museum, Pery Square on Saturday, May 25. Afterwards, the happy couple and their guests stopped off in the Commercial Bar before making their way to the Locke for a meal and then Treaty City Brewery to party the night away.

The couple met on a blind date organised by Eva Keyes, a friend of Ali’s, on August 14, 2019.

“She texted me, ‘I think I have someone that you might be interested in’ and whatever mood she caught me in that day, I said, ‘fine, let’s go for it’. We were both single for a while. Our first date was on August 14, 2019. We went to JJ Bowles pub and we’ve been together ever since,” said Ali, who works in the family business of Daly’s Hardware on William Street in the city, and is a DJ.

Colin, a maintenance engineer in Lufthansa Technik Turbine Shannon, popped the question three years later on top of a mountain overlooking a lake in Whistler, Canada.

“It was absolutely beautiful,” said Ali.

There is a cliché about young girls dreaming of the big church wedding in a white dress but this isn’t Ali.

“I never thought I was going to get married,” she laughed. “But then I met Colin and it just felt right.”

A “traditional wedding” didn’t appeal to either of them so they came up with their novel nuptial idea.

“As a Limerick business owner, we just felt like it was important for us to spend that time in Limerick. We’re both from Limerick city, we both love it, and we spend a lot of time championing our city. It was nice to be able to spread the whole day across four different amazing venues and support each other,” said Ali.

Everything was local down to Ali’s dress made by Orlaith Carroll of Attic Bridal, headpiece from Margaret O’Connor and jewellery by Gregor Pituch. Colin’s suit is from John Deignan’s Menswear.

Ali even headed down to the Milk Market on the morning of her wedding day to buy flowers to hold at the ceremony.

“They all thought I was mad! I got a free breakfast roll from the ladies outside as a wedding gift and Margot my dog got a sausage – it was actually her birthday,” smiled Ali. The ceremony in the People’s Museum was conducted and put together by their good friend John Lillis, a multi-disciplinary artist.

“Instead of exchanging rings we were given oak trees to plant that will long outlast us, which was a lovely touch. We had drinks in the coach house, which is part of the museum. It’s such a great venue. After that we hightailed it down to the Commercial. The owner Rocky O’Shea is a cousin of mine. I got to pull a few pints and we got to chill out there before heading down then to the Locke where the food was brilliant. Everybody looked after us so well,” said Ali.

The night continued on in Treaty City Brewery with a barbecue followed by trad music and then DJs including Ali who, of course, had the headline slot. The only thing they would change was the weather but even the showers were in keeping with Limerick tradition.

“We’d recommend this approach to people who don’t want to do the big wedding thing and be paying thousands upon thousands,” said Ali.

Colin said there’s a lot more organising involved in their day but it’s a lot more personal and “you’ll remember it so much more in years to come”. All the music and photography was undertaken by their friends.

However, if you want everything done for you, then the hotel route may be more suitable, they say.

Ali and Colin even insisted on no wedding presents,
“People still gave us presents but the reason we asked for no presents was because there’s always so much pressure put on people when it comes to weddings.

“I know myself when it comes to going to a wedding, it can be quite costly for people – accommodation and especially if you’re a woman – buy a dress, hair, makeup

“So we just said, we’re inviting you, you’re our guest, it should be at our expense,” said Ali.

A toast to the bride and groom – Ali and Colin.