Our wedding is off – we were upset but what can you do?
Mary Wilson of RTÉ radio’s Drivetime was to tie the knot yesterday but spent the day gardening instead
RTÉ Drivetime presenter Mary Wilson has told how she should have got married yesterday, but had to postpone the celebrations due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
She was due to tie the knot with fiancé Hugh Daly at a civil ceremony in the Royal Hotel in Bray, Co. Wicklow, followed by a celebratory party in Dún Laoghaire.
But instead the broadcaster and her GP partner spent the day gardening and enjoying some rare time off together, hoping to say ‘I do’ at a later date.
Ms Wilson said: ‘On a scale of what’s happening to people at the moment, postponing our wedding is a small price to pay. We were upset, but what can you do?’
She added they knew several weeks ago that their party would have to be postponed, but they had clung to the hope that they would still be able to enjoy a scaled-down wedding ceremony and a brunch. Both marrying for the second time, they had hoped Ms Wilson’s daughter and Dr Daly’s three adult children and mother could join them.
But, ten days ago, they learned the Royal Hotel was closing, and social distancing began.
‘Each day, this story has just darkened,’ Mary said. ‘We realised that bringing people out and gathering people together was irresponsible.
‘We will re-group, and wait and see what happens. We don’t have any definite plan, until we know more, until social isolation has ended and people are back to work and school and a degree of normality.’
Mary confided she has a ‘gorgeous dress’, albeit not a white one, which she hopes to be able to wear again, while Hugh has a lovely suit. The flowers and cake had yet to be delivered, and will be ordered again when the time is right, she added.
They had planned a few days’ break in Kerry, with a bigger honeymoon to be booked later in the year. Now, she hopes they will be able to book that honeymoon to coincide with the new date for the big day, possibly in September.
Before then, Dr Daly will be returning to his work as a GP, which Ms Wilson said was ‘very much at the coalface of this’.
She admitted she was worried about him: ‘Absolutely, we would be concerned. But they [doctors] are amazing, and they do what they do every day, to keep things going.
‘We are all learning about this every day. On Drivetime every day, I just don’t know what the next news conference is going to bring, what the next statement from the Chief Medical Officer or the Taoiseach will be, what the news will be here or abroad.’
For now, Mary continues to work from RTÉ’s studios in Donnybrook, where the show is being put together by a skeleton team in the office, and other team members working from home.
‘It’s all so upsetting, trying to make some sense of it while also trying to have your life and observe all the new rules we live by in social isolation,’ she concluded.
‘But a lot of people have had to cancel a lot of things, people are unwell, they are isolated, they are awaiting tests. We are both well, our families are well, we have a lot to be thankful for.’
helen.bruce@dailymail.ie
Hoping to say ‘I do’ at a later date