The bride wore white, the groom a suit, and everyone else windcheaters and macs. 2003, surely the the year of the showbiz/celebrity wedding, came to an end with a downpour on New Year's Eve.
Louis Osbourne, eldest son of rock star Ozzy, and Louise Lennon, from Dublin, a one-time personal assistant to actress Catherine Zeta-Jones, tied the knot at Kinnitty, Co Offaly.
But for Kinnitty it was a first in more ways than one. "I've never seen such a day," said local publican Phil Clendennen as she attempted to rearrange her broken umbrella. "It must be the worst day of the year." She was one of up to 200 people to brave the storm-like conditions outside St Flannan's Catholic Church for a glimpse of the wedding party.
The bride and groom may have been one step removed from stardom, but that didn't stop several families from descending on the village from neighbouring parishes, including several tourists who were holidaying in the area.
"We thought we might see Jack and Kelly," said Karen Schulz from Chicago, in reference to the groom's half-brother and half-sister who, with Ozzy, star in the hit TV show The Osbournes.
None was able to attend, however, due to work commitments and, in Ozzy's case, injury. He is still recovering in England from a near-fatal quad-biking accident.
While Ozzy's unavailability made for a quieter day, the wedding was far from a damp squib, at least in the eyes of the bride, who hails from Co Dublin.
"Everything went as I'd hoped, apart from the obvious," she smiled, shaking some raindrops from her dress.
The last word to the groom, however. Turning away from a barrage of photographers, with a red-tailed hawk on one sleeve, he declared: "This is quite surreal actually."
