Louise gets her dream wedding

It was back when she was just six years old that Louise fell in love with the Cathedral. Taken on a visit to the historic building with her ‘Belfast grandfather’ she was captivated during the tour of the ancient buildings and despite being a member of All Saints Clooney, on the Waterside, she dreamed of floating up the aisle in a big white dress. Her childhood dream came true at 1pm on Saturday.

“I want to thank the Dean for allowing me to get married in the Cathedral, because it was not my parish. It was good of him to say yes when I asked him two years ago in August, and since that time I have moved parishes and have joined the Cathedral.

“There is only on thing I regret and that is that both my grandfathers, Stuart Kelly from Belfast, and Jackie Moore, who was originally from Bonds Street, will not be there to see me get married,” she said.

A daughter of Martin Rowney, of Esker Gardens, and Janice McGlinchey, of Lisnagowan Court, she married Lee Simpson, son of Willis and Lynda Simpson, of Whitehill Park, Limavady, and in so doing, also became the first bride to marry following the completion of the extensive renovation works at the Cathedral.

Louise said she had felt ‘privileged’ to be the first bride to marry in the Cathedral since the £4 million renovations and improvements.

“I was very excited coming up to the wedding. I just felt very privileged and still feel very very privileged to have been the first wedding. To be honest, whenever we first went to the Dean a couple of years ago, we were told to be prepared for the possibility that the renovations would still be happening. We were told that hopefully the building would be renovated by Easter, but obviously, due to the bad weather over Christmas it looked like things would get delayed.

“I am a bit shocked that I was the first bride to get married since the renovations, but I was very, very excited about it too. The Cathedral is absolutely stunning and it was always my dream to bet married in it. My earliest memory of the Cathedral is when my grandfather came from Belfast. I was about six and we went on a tour and saw everything inside. The work that has been done to it is amazing,” Louise said.

Dressed in ivory, the bride carried a bouquet of pink lilies and ivory roses, and her attendants were dressed in navy. The bridesmaids were Victoria Rowney, sister of the bride, and Lucy McGonigle and Aisling Rodgers, friends of the bride, and the flowergirl was Ellie Rowley, daughter of the bride and groom.

The bestman was Mark McCausland, best friend of the groom, and the groomsmen were Glen Rowney, brother of the groom and Scott Holmes and Jordan Holmes, cousins of the groom.

The bride wore an ‘old’ and ‘borrowed’ garter, on loan from bridesmaid Aisling’s mother, which has been handed down through the family, a ‘new’ pair of earrings bought as a gift from her mother, and she had navy blue nail lacquer applied to her perfectly pedicured toes as her ‘blue’ wedding token.

The bride arrived with her father in a silver Rolls Royce, and the coupled entertained their guests at a reception in the Waterfoot Hotel.

The honeymoon was kept a closely-guarded secret by the groom, who did not even tell his bride where they were going to unwind.