Picture the scene. A girls' boarding school, circa 1996. A large number of tweens from the local primary school in costume, pacing the floor as they rehearse their speech and drama for the big exam. A locker open. A tantalising glimpse of a bag of mini Toffee Crisps, spilling over. SONY DSC Speech and [...]
What's a wedding without the Next Generation?! **This Star Trek joke is an anniversary present to my husband.* Everyone who’s ever been married has spent days, even weeks, staring miserably at a list of people they’re related to, went to school with, or have some meaningless (to them) but crucial (to their parents) importance [...]
It seems we’ve gone from training up-and-coming bridezillas by using the phrase “your special day” to framing it as an entire year or so of parties. Why bother trying to make your wedding day unique? The latest trends seem to indicate that it’s quite possible to have the craic with your friends outside of the day [...]
Only friends in low places would skip your wedding for a concert Garth Brooks’ decision to begin his comeback tour in Dublin has caused an unprecedented level of hype among country music lovin’ adults of all ages, but has also thrown a spanner in the works for those planning events this summer. And when I say [...]
On yesterday's RTE Today show (which you can watch at the link), I asked: Can weddings be feminist? So many of the traditional symbols around the big day are inherently patriarchal that it can be hard to see beyond them. A white dress symbolising virginity; a diamond ring to say you're taken; being 'given away' like [...]
If you're reading this and feeling that post-Bank Holiday weekend exhaustion that comes to those of us who are no longer young enough to go out two nights in a row, I salute you. You might be feeling normal again by Friday. It's a regrettable coincidence in the life cycle that our inability to go out [...]
