Wicklow couple’s wedding almost called off after a row with the priest over decorations

 

He claimed the decorations were a health issue.

A priest in Co Wicklow has been accused of delaying a wedding after he demanded all the decorations be removed - just as the guests were arriving. Edel Cooney. a wedding planning with Vintage Affairs, appeared on RTÉ Radio 1's Liveline with Joe Duffy on Thursday where she recalled her encounter with the priest. She said that the wedding had taken place last Saturday, with the couple planning their big day for two years. The ceremony was due to take place at 1pm, with the decorating team arriving shortly before 11am. She claimed that as the guests began to arrive, the priest stormed down the aisle and demanded all of the decorations - including wedding lanterns, bows and six artificial cherry blossom trees - be removed. Edel added that she had worked on hundreds of weddings with Vintage Affair - and had actually worked with this particular church three times before, but had never had an issue like this. https://twitter.com/rteliveline/status/1047830879626776577 She said that the priest began "pointing and shouting" that "it was like a fashion show" and that he wouldn't be performing the wedding until everything was gone. The priest tried to claim that the decorations were a "health and safety issue", which Edel denied was the case. She insisted there was nothing offensive or hazardous among the decorations. She recalled how she tried to tell the priest that it had taken two hours to set up the decorations and that the bride had paid "an awful lot of money" for the service. She told Joe Duffy that they had not received a notification from the church that there was a problem with the plans, which had been in the works for two years. Edel said that she tried to calm down the priest and potentially reach a compromise, but that didn't happen. She told the show:

“He said: ‘well you can go up on that alter and do it because I’m not doing this mass. "'We’re calling the whole thing off, it’s not going ahead'."

Edel said that they removed all of the decorations, except for the six cherry blossom trees. The bride and groom chairs were also replaced with two chairs from the church. The decision was made to postpone the wedding by an hour while the decorations were taken out of the church - and the 6ft trees were moved outside, forming an aisle going into the church. As the bride was already en route, they phoned her to tell her that there had been a crash on the motorway and she had to turn around. The guests were told to go to a nearby coffee shop while the changes were made. The bride and groom, Jennifer and Dave, also phoned into Liveline while on their honeymoon to explain what had happened. Dave recalled:

"I was getting a few photos with family outside when my phone started ringing. "There was a voicemail from the priest and it was just absolute carnage. I said to my two brothers, 'we need to go to the church'. "The first thing I saw [when I got to the church] was Edel in tears, so I said 'don't worry about it'. "The priest made a bee line for me as we walked in the gates. He said, 'c'mere to me you, we need to look at this.' "I said 'what's the issue?' and he said it was totally unacceptable, that this wasn't a big party. "He said, 'I'm not doing this wedding' and left me to sort it."

Meanwhile, Jennifer said that the only restrictions they had been told about "was not to stick anything with Blu-Tac or thumbtacks." She said:

"He was aware that I had a company coming to do up the church. . "They had suggested a florist and I had declined the florist that they had because I had my own. The only thing we were told about the church was not to stick anything with Blu-Tac or thumbtacks to the pews, which didn't happen."

She also said that Edel had dealt with the situation "very well" and that she was only really aware of what happened after the wedding. Ultimately, the newlyweds said that the priest performed a lovely ceremony after the initial disagreement.