Our wedding story: A magical day after a fairytale engagement

James McGrath, a garda from Nenagh, Co Tipperary, met Dr Niamh Cleary in 2010 on a night out while she was studying medicine at Trinity College Dublin.

They got engaged in November 2014, during a break away in the Lough Eske Castle Hotel and Spa in Co. Donegal.

“Following a long day of cycling around the lake, we returned to the hotel for an early night,” recalls Niamh, who comes from outside Navan in Co. Meath.

“Following some persuasion, James coaxed me from the cosy bedroom to the hotel lounge for a drink but, instead of veering into the bar, he led me up the winding stairwell of the hotel’s turret.

“Each step was lined with tea lights and, at the top of the stairs, James got down on one knee and proposed.”

Hear a pin drop

Having looked at other venues, they were ultimately drawn to Castle Durrow in Co Laois – almost equidistant for both of their families – and, on June 18th, Niamh and James were married there in a spiritualist ceremony by celebrant Miriam Fitzgerald.

Niamh, whose father Seán passed away last year, walked up the aisle with mother Helena to The Cure's Just Like Heaven.

"Our singer Aisling Connolly sang it so softly and beautifully, you could hear a pin drop in the room as I walked in – it was magical.

“The most important part of the day for both of us was meeting at the top of the aisle,” says Niamh.

After a mini-moon to Croatia, the newlyweds are planning a longer trip to New Zealand in the autumn and are currently commuting from Navan to their respective jobs in Cavan and Dublin.