Couple model wedding outf its 50 years later
Delighted they both still fit
A COUPLE have celebrated half a century of marriage – by dressing up in their original wedding gown and suit. Ger and Margaret Walsh still fitted perfectly into the outfits they had worn when they tied the knot on December 22, 1973. The pair – from Cordal, Co. Kerry – decided to wear the special clothes to surprise their family at Christmas. Mrs Walsh, a former teacher, explained: ‘I kept my dress and we kept his clothes. I’m a great hoarder. We even had his shoes and the tie he wore. ‘We didn’t have the socks and the shirt,’ she laughed. She told Talkabout on
Radio Kerry that her dress had come from a shop at the Blarney Woollen Mills, and was a loom weave. The company which made it only went into liquidation in August last year, she said.
On its beautiful fit, 50 years and two children later, she said: ‘I was absolutely over the moon, I couldn’t believe it. To be fair, I was surprised that it looks as well as it did on the day, except for the glasses. I felt it made me look younger.’
Mr Walsh, a retired trucker, said he had some ‘bother’ in fitting into his suit.
‘But I got into it. The waistcoat was a little tight, but I got into it comfortably enough,’ he said.
Mrs Walsh said their relatives had been delighted to see them all dressed up again, and that they had taken a lot of photographs with their now adult children along with their grandchildren.
‘It was a big celebration, and they presented us then with a holiday in the sun,’ she revealed.
‘It’s something to look forward to now.’
When asked about the secret to their long and happy union, Mrs Walsh said: ‘You can solve all problems, provided there is a little bit of give and take, and you stand back from the problem.’
Mr Walsh added: ‘You need to have respect for your partner for a marriage to work. (And) we don’t split anything, everything is shared in the one pot. There’s no her and mine.
‘People have become very individual, and that causes a lot of arguments.’
‘Waistcoat was a little tight’