Despite the groom being a member of the Hothouse Flowers, there was nary a tiger-lily nor an orchid in sight at his wedding. Indeed when HF guitarist Fiachna O Braonain married photographer Suki Stuart last Saturday, they cleverly managed to avoid having too many bad jokes circulating by abandoning hothouse flowers altogether and opting for wild flowers instead.
Suki, together with her sisters Laragh and Sophia, and her mother Anna, had spent days decorating their house in Laragh, Co Wicklow with heather, rosemary, lavender and even flowering artichokes and the end result looked absolutely stunning in the Indian summer sunshine.
The ceremony, which took place in St Kevin's Church in Laragh, was equally simple. Fiachna was looking suitably dashing in a Katherine Hamnett shirt and a Nehru jacket borrowed from his new father-inlaw, Ian Stuart, while Suki had gone for a simple white linen skirt and green spangled top. Meanwhile, the best man, writer Eamon Delaney, had his hands full keeping the various attendants busy - the bridesmaids were Fiachna's twins, Liadain and Kasia, and Suki's niece Iseult, and the page was her three-year-old nephew, Milo - but order prevailed with the help of maid-of-honour Laragh Stuart.
Obviously, there was no shortage of musicians - both Liam O Maonlai and Peter O'Toole of the Hothouse Flowers played during the ceremony, accompanied by renowned uillean pipe player, Ronan Browne. A surprise for many of the guests was the beautiful rendition of Come By Here by American singer, Michelle Shocked, who travelled from New Orleans with her writer husband Brad Bull to attend the ceremony.
After the champagne reception and wedding breakfast back at the house, the talented guests started doing their party pieces. Fiachna's father Annrai O Braonain sang a piece as Gaelige, as did Liam O'Maonlai. Actor John Hurt gave a moody recitation of Lewis Carroll's The Jabberwock while singer Marianne Faithfull could not be persuaded to sing at all and the groom and Michelle Shocked coaxed each other through an unplanned duet.
Other guests included the Fitzgerald girls, Nesta, Honor and Catherine with her husband Ned Durham; biographer and historian Ulick O'Connor; Garech de Bruin of Claddagh records; actor Karl Hayden; Trevor White of Food and Wine Magazine; rock critic B.P. Fallon, who together with Sarah Owens acted as unofficial photographers for the day; Isobel Smith, the artists' agent, and singer Simon Carmody.