We were living in London but came home to get married in May 1972. I was working in an Irish bank and they found me five weeks of temporary work here in Dublin, so I could be home for a few weeks beforehand. Mr. Osc arrived home two days before the wedding, with a dreadful haircut (some butcher in Selfridges
) and a toothache. He went to the dentist the day before the wedding, she just replaced the oldest filling which was the wrong tooth. That night, he and his brother went to see the priest who was performing the marriage, in order for Mr. Osc to make his confession - well, that was the theory but after two bottles of whiskey between them, they didn't get home until almost 6am with the wedding happening at 11am. In fairness I don't recall him having a hangover, and he still had a toothache, in fact the family doctor gave him painkillers in the church!
As for me, I spent a quiet evening at home the night before the wedding, while my brother and mother brought the wedding cake to the hotel, and got drunk, I washed and set my hair and did my nails and was in bed by midnight. I woke about 6.30am and eventually my sister brought me breakfast in bed while everyone else in the house used the bathroom before me. I did my own makeup too. I wasn't one bit nervous, neither was Mr. Osc, we had been living together anyway. I was at the church on time, when Mr. Osc knelt at the altar you could see the price on the sole of his new shoes
. A well-known Irish singer sang Amazing Grace as I walked up the aisle, and he told me I looked lovely just before he started singing. The priest was so hungover that his hand rattled the rings on the dish as he was trying to pick them up and we were out of the church by 11.25am, so maybe we weren't married properly at all
I had based my outfit on the DH Evans poster in the Tube at the time, although the actual dress didn't suit me, I wore a simple dress with a big hat and carried a basket of flowers instead of a bouquet. I had just one bridesmaid, my sister. We always said we wanted as small a wedding as possible, and sort of succeeded, although it was mostly relatives with only three of our own friends there. We also didn't want to hang around after the reception, so got an early evening flight via London to our honeymoon in Jersey. Mr.Osc had to go to the dentist in Jersey the next morning, where the proper tooth was located and filled.