LYNDA MALLON AND Stephen Somerville were married on July 25th in the Beech Hill Country House Hotel in Derry by the district registrar of Derry. Lynda is the only daughter of Frances and Vincent Mallon, and Stephen is one of three sons of Helen and George Somerville. The wedding ceremony was performed outdoors in the grounds of the hotel on what was, fortuitously, a sunny afternoon.
Ninety guests attended the wedding, coming from the UK, Europe and the US. The reception was held in a marquee on the grounds of the hotel, with entertainment from a rock’n’roll band.
Lynda was born in Rathcoole, Co Dublin, and was educated in Holy Family Community School and graduated in 1998, before studying industrial design at the Institute of Technology in Carlow. She acquired her postgraduate certificate in education at the University of Ulster in Jordanstown and now teaches technology and design at Cambridge House Grammar School in Ballymena.
Stephen was born in Cookstown, Co Tyrone. He moved to Coleraine at the age of five and studied at Dalriada Grammar School in Ballymoney, Co Antrim. He completed a HND in computing at Northampton University, before undertaking a career in retail management with HMV for 12 years in Dublin, Northern Ireland and London. Stephen now works as a banking adviser for Halifax, Bank of Scotland in Ballymena.
Stephen and Lynda met in 2002 while they were both working in HMV in the Square, Tallaght. They went on their first date three weeks after meeting and have been together ever since. They moved to Coleraine in 2004. Stephen proposed to Lynda in December 2008, on a blustery evening on the promenade in Portstewart. “He produced the most beautiful ring I could have asked for,” recalls Lynda. “And, of course, I said yes.”
On the day of the wedding, Lynda wore a bespoke dress made by a dressmaker in Dublin; her bridesmaid, Lena Anderson, a friend from secondary school, wore a dress by Pearce II Fionda. Her headdress was designed and made by another school friend, Beatrice Mac Cabe, who now works as a designer for Diane von Furstenberg in New York. The couple will honeymoon in Thailand and Japan, taking in Bangkok, Koh Phi Phi and Tokyo.