Our Wedding Story: The right chemistry for two pharmacists

Aoife Sugrue and Niall O’Donoghue

Pharmacists Aoife (27) and Niall (28) met on a night out in Dublin in 2006, and their first date was to see Casino Royale in the Savoy cinema.

Aoife remembers “turning around and being amazed at how tall this guy behind me on the dance floor was”.

"We got talking and realised we were doing the same course in RCSI, but Niall was the year ahead of me. We were pretty much inseparable since then," she says.

Niall, who is the son of Kathleen and Liam O’Donoghue from Co Cork, had planned to propose during a weekend trip to Budapest but couldn’t wait and asked Aoife to marry him in her car after work one evening.

They were married on June 27th, 2015 in St James's Church in the bride's hometown of Glenbeigh, Co. Kerry.

"The church at home is so important to me, where my family and I have gone to Mass as long as I remember, where my parents [Veronica and Paddy Sugrue] were married and baptised, and there was never any doubt where we would get married," says Aoife who wore Christian Louboutin heels with custom-made lining as her "something blue".

The priest joked during the ceremony that “there wouldn’t be a drop of paint left in the local hardware shop after all the work the bride’s dad had done around the house in preparation”.

Their reception was held in the Malton Hotel, Killarney and the couple had their first dance to Be My Forever by Christina Perri and Ed Sheeran. Flowers – including blossom trees inside the church – were arranged by Terry in Shades of Bloom Flowers, Killorglin and the cake was made by Clodagh at Sweet Serendipity, Cork.

Aoife had some words of wisdom for other couples in the planning stages.

"Pinterest and Instagram are great but at one stage I felt like I was planning two weddings: my Pinterest wedding and the real wedding. It's so easy to get carried away."

After the wedding, the newlyweds took off on a six-month trip around the world. Photographs: Woodard Photography Sarah Geraghty