A couple braved “epic flooding” caused by Storm Amy to go ahead with their wedding day and marry in an oratory on a small island in Co Cork.
American bride Elisabeth Villa and her Irish husband Anthony McSweeney tied the knot last week in Gougane Barra, near Ballingeary, in the Muskerry Gaeltacht.
The scenic valley and heritage site in the Shehy Mountains is a hugely popular wedding venue.
However, last Thursday the island became a “no walk zone” and the couple had to put out all the stops to keep their big day from being ruined.
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Photographer John Sexton, told the Neil Prendeville Show on Red FM, that the rainfall was “biblical” in nature.
“The rain came off the mountains. By the time of the wedding the island was flooded. It was under two foot of water. Fr Sean O’Sullivan went up to the couple and said, ‘Lads, we are in trouble.’
“Because all of the paperwork is signed and ready to go it does need to be signed on the island of Gougane.
“The manager of the Gougane Barra Hotel brought just the family over in a 4x4 jeep. It was five our six trips in the jeep. We did a quick ceremony,” he said.
Mr Sexton said he wanted to get at least one photograph of the couple outside the church.
“I had to venture out on to the what was the island but was now a lake. I was able to venture out with small plastic bags but they were too small so Fr Sean gave me two refuse bags to put on my legs.
“I turned around and got a photograph of the couple in the door of the church.
“The weird thing is that there was a strange sense of calm. Everyone did their bit. Neil Lucey in Gougane Barra Hotel was a saint with his 4x4. The priest and the couple were fantastic.”
Meanwhile, the bride Elisabeth said that nothing was going to put a dampener on their special day.
“They (the photographs) came out beautiful. More than we could have asked for,” she said.
“Everybody was so incredible. We were laughing looking at it all from the bridal suite (in the hotel). We were having fun with it. We just accepted it. We were going to have a great day no matter what.”
Elisabeth joked that the so called lucky charm that is the Child of Prague statue had failed the couple bringing flooding instead of sunshine.
“I heard of the Child of Prague when we were in Ireland and I was searching for a statue at home to bring over with me. Maybe because the statue came from the US it brought bad luck.”
Elisabeth said that the wedding party all but jumped through hoops on the day to make sure the ceremony went ahead.
“I had the best bridesmaids who were willing to get wet themselves to save me and my dress.
“As you can see, my dad had to lift me out of the car. They did everything they could to make sure I was fine and it made it a lot more fun.
“I don’t think I would change anything. I expected rain but all we needed was Anthony and me to be there. It will be a great story to tell in the future. I wouldn’t change a thing.”
Anthony said that whilst the wedding party consisted of 60 people they only had about 20 at the ceremony due to the flooding.
The couple will honeymoon in Italy next year.
