Our wedding story: mad about each other within moments of meeting

Gemma Reddin was mad about Neal Baroni ’within a few moments of meeting him’


Gemma Reddin and Neal Baroni Two days after arriving in Boston for the summer of 2011 with friends, Gemma, from Sligo, was at a house party where she met Neal, from New Hampshire.

Two months into their summer romance, which started a week after their first encounter – "within a few moments of meeting him, I was mad about him and I knew he was very special" – Gemma heard that she had been accepted to study medicine at the University of Limerick.

“I was very tempted to stay, but Neal urged me to go home. He left his job a month later and moved into my tiny student accommodation. Unfortunately, it proved too difficult to get his visa and six weeks later we were devastated when he had to go back. The next two years were tough . . . we only saw each other at Christmas and during the summer.”

Gemma was visiting Neal in the summer of 2013 when he proposed at Plum Island beach.

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That autumn, Neal finally secured a visa and lived with his fiancee’s parents while he worked as a waiter in Sligo town, and Gemma – who he saw at weekends – completed hospital rotations around the country.

On August 7th, 2015, they were married at Sligo Cathedral.

The bride's dress was designed and made with Italian silk by close friend Rebecca Marsden and her headpiece was created by her aunt from pearls and glass beads.

Gemma’s brother, an artist and illustrator, created a logo for the wedding stationery and the table numbers, placenames and bunting were all made by DIY-savvy friends and family.

The bride, her sister and bridesmaids, along with the groom and his parents, Kathleen and Paul Baroni, decorated the tent in the back garden of the Reddin family home where the reception was held.

“The biggest project of all was transforming our wild overgrown garden into the beautiful blooming garden it was on the day, thanks to my Mum Jane, Dad Eamonn and Mikey my brother.”

Mikey also made elderflower cordial, and the bride credits her sister Anna – currently on a running scholarship in the US – “as my personal trainer.”

In 2014 Neal started working at Facebook and Gemma graduated in May 2015 as the third-generation doctor in her family, after grandfather Dr Michael Dorman and mother Dr Jane Dorman. She works at St Vincent's hospital in Dublin and has an interest in paediatric cardiology.

Photographs: Darek Novak