KIRSTIE PETRIE AND Alwin McAdoo were married on St Valentine’s Day in Rathgar Presbyterian Church, Dublin 6, by a good friend, Rev Andy Carroll, who has only recently become a minister. The junior choral group from Wesley College in Ballinteer, all aged under 16, sang during the service and there was a trumpeter and oboeist, along with Alison Young on the organ.
The couple met five years ago when they were teaching in Romania during the summer of their first year in college.
The bride grew up in Churchtown and is the daughter of Eleanor and Alan Petrie. She attended Wesley College, where one of her brothers now teaches history, and went on to study agricultural science at UCD. She is now completing a PhD in agriculture at the UCD farm on the Lyons Estate in Newcastle, Co Kildare. Her research is topical and environmentally friendly: it involves strategies to reduce methane in cattle.
Alwin, who is a civil engineer, grew up on a cattle and sheep farm in Aghabod, near Clones, Co Monaghan. He is the son of William and Wanda McAdoo. He studied at Monaghan Collegiate before taking his degree in engineering at DIT. He is currently working on the continuation of the Luas line through Dublin docklands.
“He has swapped the country for the city and I swapped the city for the country. His parents have always been very good to me and let me play – I mean learn – my skills on their farm,” the bride said. Alwin proposed to her on the farm in October, 2007.
Their wedding was “very traditional, with hymns and readings close to our hearts”. Kirstie’s mother put most of the flower arrangements together for the church and also made the wedding cake. The reception for 120 friends and family members was held at Barberstown Castle in Co Kildare. St Valentine’s Day just happened to be free when they made their booking, and they figured it would auger well for their subsequent anniversary celebrations.
The couple had four attendants each: bridesmaids included Rebecca Waugh, a friend from Wesley College, her sister-in-law Lynn Petrie, and UCD friends Hayley O’Connor and Jessica Johnson. The groomsmen were George and Askely McAdoo and Lindsey Totten and Keith Adams.
The couple spent their honeymoon in a “beautiful, but freezing house” on the isle of Harris in the Outer Hebrides. “It rained every day and everything was completely closed for the winter,’’ laughs the bride, adding it was perfect for two outdoors people. They live in Ballinteer.