A Dublin church is celebrating the couples who got married there in the past 100 years with a unique photo collection and a special mass to honour “their commitment to love”.
The Newman University Church on St Stephen’s Green is inviting everyone who got married there to come to a celebratory mass on February 11.
Katherine Dunn, Director of IT and Communications at the church, said it’s “really important to celebrate the sacrament they chose together”.
“It’s so impressive to commit your love to someone else. Every week, someone comes in to say they got married here, or their parents or grandparents got married here.
“Some come back to relive the day, they get to tell their kids all the details. They’d talk about the style, what it was like to get married then, the stories are very sweet.”
Each year, the church hosts “at least 50 weddings, sometimes it’s two or three a weekend”, and they are excited to bring back some of those couples on Valentine’s weekend.
“We’re inviting any couple who got married at our church to come and celebrate mass with us around Valentine’s Day,” Ms Dunn said.
“Last year, we collected photos of weddings from the past 100 years and displayed them. Everyone came in, it was really sweet, so we’re doing it again.
“Couples were there, widows were there, and they brought their kids or their grandkids to show them where they got married.
“The sweetest part of last year is that everyone there had something in common. When everyone is chatting afterwards, there’s no awkward small talk, they had their weddings in common.
“An older man came by himself last year; he got the train from Limerick to give in his photo. His wife had passed, he sat with me, showed me the photo, and talked to me about her.
“It was a space for him to talk about her, he loves her,” she added.
Originally, you had to have attended UCD to get married in the church, but now it is open to all couples.
“It was UCD college chapels. The older folks who got married here all went to UCD. That’s the older history of it. But now, anyone can get married here,” Ms Dunn said.
“Right now, I have 206 photos to display in the atrium of the church for about a month. It’ll begin on February 11 and we’ll have champagne and chocolate.”
The display of photos will be up in University Church from Sunday, February 11, until Sunday, March 17. Couples are invited to the special mass celebration on 6.15pm on February 11.