Wedding planner calls Liveline following incident in church

A wedding planner called Joe Duffy last Thursday after an alleged dispute with a priest in St Patrick’s Church, Kilquade.

Edel Cooney had dressed the small and very beautiful church for the wedding of Jenny and David O’Brien. The decorations included six cherry blossom trees and chairs for the bride and groom.

The trees were ultimately moved outside, forming a passageway for the bride between the gate and the door of the church.

Ms Cooney, who had not responded to a call at the time of going to press, told RTE’s Liveline that the priest had said they should be removed before he would perform the sacrament.

The priest did not appear on Liveline to dis- cuss the matter, nor has he answered our calls.

The bride, who spoke on the radio programme by phone from her honeymoon, said that she wasn’t aware there was anything wrong until she saw the trees outside.

‘He is actually a lovely man, and the ceremony he did was fantastic,’ she told Joe Duffy.

David said that he was having some pictures taken with family when the issue arose. ‘ There was a voicemail from the priest,’ he said. ‘I said to my two brothers, we need to go to the church.’

David said that the priest told him the decorations were totally unacceptable and that the wedding wasn’t a big party.

Ms Cooney said that the decorations were tasteful and that the trees were not on the aisle.