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Gill (30), a brand manager at L’Oreal from Terenure, met former Connacht rugby player Michael (37), now media and communications manager with the Irish Rugby Union Players’ Association, during a pitch for a beauty subscription company he had recently launched.
Their first date in late December 2013 was lunch in Enniskerry and a walk to the waterfall at Powerscourt, followed by chips on the seafront at Bray.
Ten months later, Michael proposed on Sandymount green (with help from Gill’s sister, Suzie, and the family dog, Ollie).
They were married on June 19th, 2015, at Iglesia Santa Lucia, in Santander, Spain, and after the ceremony a nine-piece jazz band played in the square, starting off with All You Need is Love from Love Actually.
After a surprise Pimms party on a boat that took guests from the city across Santander Bay, the reception was held at Cenador de Amos restaurant.
The bride – in a Rime Adorkary dress from the White Gallery – had bought her father, Dick, a white Moleskine notebook to take notes for his speech. Afterwards, he gave the notebook, which he had filled with memories, stories and drafts of his speech, to his daughter.
The two best men were Brendan O’Reilly and Michael Parker, the head groomsmen was Mike McCarthy, and the groomsmen were Conor O’Loughlin, Frank Murphy, Adrian Flavin, James Playll, Paul Badiani, Raj Badiani and Tony Badiani. Suzie Blake was chief bridesmaid and the bridesmaids were Susie Hannon, Mo Harvey and Sue Gray.
The groom, whose father Jim passed away suddenly earlier in the year, wore his dad’s watch on the day.
Mother of the bride is Fionnuala Blake and Michael’s mother is Frances Swift.
The honeymoon is to be confirmed and the couple live in Sandymount, Dublin.
Photographs: Yulia Ignatova, yuliaignatova.com
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