What a beautiful place! We picked up our hire car from Cork airport, and drove down past Gaggin to Rosscarbery, where we'd booked our holiday cottage for Sean & Siobhán's wedding. Just driving down to the place was refreshing after our ten hour delay at Heathrow and abuse at the hands of Aer Lingus' Swissport staff.

After sorting ourselves out in our large cottage with the gorgeous view over the bay, we made our way down to the bar where S&S were celebrating their last night of singledom with family and friends. Now, before I'd gone, lots of people had warned me that I wouldn't understand a word of what the people in Cork would say, because even other Irish people found their accent impenetrable, but the few people I know from Cork (including Siobhán) I've found perfectly intelligible, and I was relieved to find that this was still the case, although there were some people I had to listen hard to! Siobhán left around midnight (as did we), but the groom carried on into the wee hours...

The following morning saw Al (kilted) and me (suited) speeding down to the pub where we'd agreed to meet Sean and his groomsmen at midday for a quick burst of dutch courage in the shape of some vodkas. From there we went to Gaggin, where the ceremony took place in a beautiful little village church. I always gush about weddings, so I won't go on about it here, but suffice to say, I thought it was lovely. Siobhán seemed a little distracted though, and provided one of those brief comic relief moments by missing one of her cues.

After the ceremony, we quickly lined up for a big photo (although not quickly enough, as it started to rain just at the crucial moment) and headed back to Rosscarbery where the reception was held. There it was that we met the lovely Clare who was one of the people who would be sharing our cottage; it was clear from the outset that Clare was our kinda gal, and we chatted pretty much non-stop for the rest of the evening.

It was the first time I'd been to an Irish wedding, and I've since heard that the impressive amount of drinking is only to be expected, and sure enough, we were all drinking steadily until about 4 or 5 in the morning, including the happy couple. But without going on too much, the food was delicious and filling, the company stimulating, the conversation sparkling, the band fun, the dj relentless. Sean & Siobhán's wedding is one of the few I've enjoyed where I've known very few people on arrival. After several hours drinking and singing along to Al's unfaltering piano repertoire, we turned in.

The following day we took Clare to the airport, and drove into Cork for a wander around the shops; hunger eventually drove us back to Rosscarbery where we disappointed to find that only the Rosscarbery Hotel restaurant provides food on a Sunday, but it was nice to see Sean & Siobhán again relaxing after their day; similarly knackered, we had an early night.

On our last day, we were determined to see a bit more of the area where Siobhán had grown up with her brother and sisters, so we stopped at Bandon for some lunch, and drove on to Blarney Castle to take in the local novelty. It's surprisingly well preserved, and the whole area is so lushly green, I could hardly put my camera away. We wandered around there a fair bit, and I did my bit and kissed the Blarney Stone (a bit of a conveyor-belt experience if truth be told), and took lots of photos of the gorgeous green scenery. No wonder they call it the Emerald Isle.

After that, we zipped back to Cork to while a few hours away; Al bought some CDs of Irish folk music (similar to what he'd been playing in the wee hours after the wedding), and I dragged him into Abrakebabra to sample the local junk food. I can't remember what it was like, but it hasn't left an unfavourable impression, so it can't have been too bad! From there we made our way back to the airport, and successfully smuggled a Guinness glass back to the UK!

See all the pictures from Cork.