Emmet Bradley and Xaris Zamora Escudero
Emmet was 22 and working in the IFSC when his mother urged him to meet “a lovely girl” who had started teaching Spanish in the Greystones primary school where she worked.
“I remember her being on my case but who in their right mind wants to be set up by their mum? My parents celebrated their 25th wedding anniversary that year so there was no avoiding meeting up anymore. And that was it,” he said.
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Xaris, originally from Chiclayo in Peru, moved to Pamplona in Spain with her mother, stepfather and sister when she was 15 and came to Ireland in 2007.
After two years of being together, Emmet proposed on the Dart between Greystones and Bray. “A long engagement ensued and it wasn’t until pre-Christmas 2014 that Xaris actually mentioned getting married,” remembers the groom, an IT engineer.
The couple was joined by almost 150 guests – a mix of navarros (locals), Peruvians and the Irish contingent – in Pamplona for their wedding on August 21st, 2015.
After the ceremony at Castillo de Javier, temperatures had climbed to over 40 degrees and, says the groom, “the poor Irish were absolutely dying in the heat”.
Packed into the air-conditioned buses, the guests regrouped back in Pamplona for the reception – at another castle, Castillo de Gorraiz. The sun was setting when Peruvian dancers began their show before everyone sat down to a seven-course meal.
With performances from friends and family and lots of dancing, the night went by in a flash for the newlyweds.
"The best thing about it all was the sense of togetherness we all felt," says Emmet (above with dad Francis), "she had her people, I had mine, and we were all mashed together. Now life rolls on in Pamplona."
Photographs: Gorka Alaba
Sarah Geraghty
