SHEILA O'KEEFFE and Patrick Nordstrom were married recently in the coach house of Blackwater
Castle in Castletownroche, Co Cork by the Cork registrar, Rena Noonan.
The 12th-century castle was bought in 1991 by Patrick’s father, Dr Rabbe Nordstrom, who with his wife Ninna used it as a holiday/retirement home and envisaged developing it into a retreat for cancer patients. Dr Nordstrom died in 1998, however, and it is now used as a venue for weddings and corporate events.
Sheila, from Corbally, Limerick, is the daughter of Peadar and Eileen O’Keeffe. She has three siblings, Sarah, Eoghan and Mairead, who acted as her bridesmaid. She attended Ard Scoil Mhuire in Corbally and studied European studies and law at the University of Limerick.
She is now a solicitor with MJ O’Callaghan & O’Keeffe in Mitchelstown.
Patrick’s family is Finnish, but he grew up in Germany with one younger brother, Christian. He studied business at the University of Cologne and had his own consultancy in crisis management in Germany before moving to Ireland permanently in 2004 to oversee renovation work on the castle.
He had been a regular visitor over the years, and co-wrote a guidebook,
Motorcycle Tours in the South of Ireland, for Mercier Press. His mother still lives on the grounds, and the castle can
now accommodate 35 people with additional support from local B&Bs for larger events. University College Cork will hold summer courses there this year, and they regularly host Finnish cultural events.
Hazel and Joe Bourke of Assolas House prepared the feast for their wedding and they later released 50 Chinese lanterns on the grounds in calm weather beneath a starlit sky and full moon.
The couple met at the Cork Jazz festival in 2005. They have a young baby, Moira Sinead, and Patrick has two children, Henrick and Lisa, from his first marriage.
They spent their honeymoon in Killarney and Kenmare and have made their home in a restored coach house on the grounds of the castle.