Wedding of the week: Steam Engines and Cinderella
Tommy and Lisa Fogarty on their wedding day. Photo by John O’Carroll.
STEAM engines and The Cinderella Story characterise the love story between Tommy Fogarty (33) from Kildare and Lisa Fogarty, née Lawler (32) from Carlow.
The pair met in Dinn Rí in Carlow on 12 September three years ago. “We were inseparable from then on”, said Ms Fogarty.
They got engaged on 20 December 2023 in Galway after going to a Mary Wallopers gig.
“My favourite movie is , and I wanted to go over to the bandstand [in Salthill] but he wouldn’t let me. After the concert, he made us go back to the hotel as the ring was in the hotel, and like a divil, he got the ring out and went over to the bandstand. It was raining that night, and I said let’s go back. I didn’t realise he was on his knees; I was turned around.” Once she realised what was happening, it was an immediate “yes”.
They started planning the wedding: “I always knew the wedding was going to be in St Mary’s Church, Bennekerry, as my grandparents were buried there. I was very close to them, and I wanted the feeling of them there”, said Ms Fogarty.
While Ms Lawler organised the church, her husband worked out the date: “The date for the wedding had to be worked around steam engines”, said Ms Fogarty laughing. “The August Bank Holiday was a no-go because of the steam rally.” They settled on 16 August for the big day. The bridal party of four bridesmaids and four groomsmen was gathered to support the couple on their big day.
Mr Fogarty is a volunteer at the Stradbally Woodland Railway and is passionate about all things steam engines. He also runs a pub with his family in Kilmeage.
On his request, they had a tractor engine called Patricia steaming out the front of the Woodford Dolmen Hotel for the afters, and a miniature called Roisin Óg inside near the cake.
They had signal flags, as decoration, and paraded the tractor through town from the church to the hotel “making a bit of a racket”.
“It was a brilliant day; the weather was the hottest day ever. We had fans going literally everywhere - even Father Dillon said it was the first time ever that people had to fan themselves in the church”, said Ms Fogarty.
She wasn’t nervous at all to walk down the aisle due to the support of her bridesmaids.
The couple’s two flower girls and two pageboys “made the day” and “kept everybody on their toes”.
They had rubber ducks in tails and a veil as a cake topper, which they collected from the Dolmen Hotel where they stayed when Ms Fogarty’s brother got married. Ms Fogarty also included references to in the cake.
John O’Carroll, a photographer from Kilkenny, caught the special moments of the day.
Ms Fogarty and her mother’s dresses were made by Brendan Byrne, a friend of her family and the dressmaker for the Carlow rose, Caoimhe Deering.
“My dream was to be Cinderella”, said Ms Fogarty. She wanted “a little fairy dress, a princess dress”. She said it was “the most comfortable dress I ever wore, whatever way he made it, it didn’t feel like I was wearing a dress.” Her comfort was ensured also by flat shoes that she customised herself.
Continuing the steam theme, the couple travelled to Portmadog, Wales for the Ffestiniog Railway and old castles. They spent two days there getting used to being a married couple: “It felt different,” said Ms Fogarty.
The pair came back to run the family pub together and hope to start a family soon.
Steam engines continue to be part of married life, of course, and Ms Fogarty said: “It’s a fantastic community, they have been so welcoming to me.”
