Mountmellick church to celebrate 57 weddings with unique event

A unique celebration of a century of weddings in a Laois church takes place this September.

St Paul's Church of Ireland in Mountmellick has been the beautiful and meaningful venue for 57 weddings over the past 100 years, and a group of its parishoners are about to hold a special social fundraiser to honour that romantic history.

The whole town is getting involved, with a special showing of a wedding movie, and the reenactment of a wedding complete with lunch and fun speeches.

At least 16 wedding dresses have been carefully packed and shipped to the organising committee for display, from as far away as Australia, with more welcomed.

The exhibition will include the register of marriages for all the weddings in St Paul's for the last 100 years, as well as photographs, invites and all the memorabilia carefully kept by couples since their special day.

It will be a celebration of changing fashions, of love, of the church and of ecumenical community spirit.

A photo of a wedding at St Paul's Church. 

Philip and Janet Stewart from The Rock are part of the committee, with Philip's own mother Hilda Stewart's (nee Whitford) dress among the exhibits. 

"So far my mum's dress is the oldest, they got married on August 6, 1952. She kept it in a box and dyed it green to wear it again," he said.

Mrytle Gloster (nee Stewart) modelling her late mother Hilda's wedding dress.

"One dress came from Australia, including the wedding menu and the bridesmaid's dress, from a 1997 wedding.

"It has struck a chord with people. We are delighted with the response. Some couples have split up but even they were willing and said it was a happy time for them," Philip told the Leinster Express / Laois Live.

The first wedding of the past century was in 1819,  between Margaret Thompson and John Haggard.

Mountmellick Drama group is going to act out a reenacted ecumenical wedding service, including a vintage car and a reception in The Hare's Corner, where the speeches promise to be comedic. The restaurant only seats 60 so the 'invitation' tickets will be like gold dust.

The committee also invite the public to vote for their favorite wedding hymn and why, and the six winning songs will be sung at the closing service. Entries may be emailed by August 23 to chooseyourhymn@gmail.com

Weddings have become rarer in St Paul's as the size of the congregation falls. The last one was in 2017.

"Hopefully there will be more weddings there in the future," Philip Stewart said.

The exhibition will take place from September 5 to 8 in St Paul's Church, Mountmellick.

On Wednesday, September 4 there will be a wedding themed classic movie in The Balcony Cinema in Mountmellick Community Arts Centre at 7.30pm with tea/coffee and wine reception.

The Brides of St Paul's exhibition will be launched on Thursday, September 5 at 7pm in the church with special guest Bishop Pat Storey, followed by a cheese and wine reception in the old school hall.  The exhibition then opens to the public on Friday in the church, from 11am to 8pm, and again on Saturday, 11am to 4pm. 

The wedding reenactment takes place on Saturday evening at 6pm in St Paul's Church. The bride will travel from O'Connell Square in a 1912 Vauxhall car, followed by a fun filled reception in The Hare's Corner restaurant at the MDA, Irishtown.

On Sunday the exhibition open for a final day from 10am to 4pm. There will be an exhibition of vintage cars and old wedding cars in O'Connell Square from 11am to 4pm. 

It will close with a service of praise and thanksgiving, led by organist Antoinette Dickinson and her choir and the choir of Mountmellick Group of Parishes. A final reception will follow of tea, coffee and refreshments in the old school hall.

Any donations and ticket money raised will go towards maintenance of the 18th century church.

"We want it to unite all religions, all religious leaders will be invited. It will just be a lovely occasion to get together. Janet came up with the idea after we were at a school reunion and people met who hadn't seen each other since they left school. It is in aid of St Paul's so if it makes money, it makes money, but it's a social community thing," he said.

The committee are still in need of some traditional style mannequins to model the gowns, email rector@mountmellickgroupofparishes.ie or phone Janet Stewart on 086 2737146