Love on the Loop was certainly the order of the day when Loop Head Lighthouse in West Clare recently hosted the first wedding ceremony ever to take place on its grounds.
The special day on the stunning Loop Head Peninsula took place on Saturday, September 7 when the team at the lighthouse had the honour of hosting Sarah Carr and Darragh Enright as they celebrated their love in front of a gathering of 60 of their friends and family at the base of the majestic lighthouse.
The ceremony was led by Margaret Gammell, a humanist celebrant and marriage solemniser from Shannon, and the couple exchanged their vows before her and their family and friends. Afterwards, the wedding party enjoyed sandwiches at the location before heading off to Vaughan’s Barn in Kilfenora for their reception.
Operations Manager, Simon Day revealed the couple were absolutely “full of the joys” as the celebrated their marriage. And they were lucky with the weather on the day itself as there was no wind or rain blowing in from the Atlantic.
The unique Loop Head Lighthouse wedding came about after the couple, who are both lighthouse enthusiasts, approached Mr Day and his team with the request.
“We are so grateful they chose Loop Head Lighthouse for their special day and wish them a lifetime of love and happiness,” Mr Day said.
The couple’s wedding was the first civil ceremony which was celebrated at the lighthouse. Prior to the Covid pandemic, occasionally couples would do the legal side of their marriage before visiting the lighthouse to take photographs. And the special location has a unique scenic value meaning a wedding photographer can capture photos from the top of the lighthouse tower.
The couple also got engaged at the West Clare site when Darragh proposed to Sarah there in April 2023.
“He said he got a notion to ask me to marry him, and he got down on his knee and popped the question. We were just outside the main gate when it happened,” bride Sarah Carr recalled to The Clare Champion.
The story of the start of the couple’s relationship is also linked to the Loop Head site as Darragh and Sarah went on a cycle to the lighthouse for their third date seven years prior to their engagement.
“I am a real lighthouse enthusiast, and I’m trying to visit every lighthouse in Ireland for the last 12 years. We had gone for a cycle on an early date to the lighthouse and then Darragh proposed there.
Darragh said he would like an Irish wedding and I said if so, I would like to get married at the lighthouse. So we emailed Simon Day to see what he thought of it and he was open to it but has a concern about the weather saying you cannot depend on it.
“Sometimes July and August can be a wash-out, so we picked September 7 as September is usually better. We had between 55 and 60 guests and decided if it rained, we would use the visitor centre where we would all have shuffled in – that was our back-up plan. And we told our guests to dress accordingly and I had several brollies ready for them but we were very lucky in the end.
“What was lovely about the venue was that it was open to the public on the day, as is the requirement for legal marriages, and people visiting there were quietly observing it. There were strangers coming up to us, telling me I looked beautiful and wishing us well.”
Sarah, a disability advocate is from Nottingham in England and has lived in Ireland for 12 years. Darragh, a computer programmer is from Patrickswell in Limerick and the couple live in Cork.
“I once worked at a lighthouse in County Cork, in Ballycotton briefly as a tour guide and from there my love of lighthouses developed, and by default Darragh is also an enthusiast,” said Sarah.
“There is a lot in them in terms of metaphors, and they are always situated in a beautiful local area – at cliffs or seaside, and then there is the history of them,” Sarah explained.
Sarah and Darragh’s respective families stayed for two nights in the two lighthouse keeper’s cottages on site, and Sarah got ready and left from there the morning of the wedding.
“I thought if I you get married there, it is very nice to stay there and wake up there. Looking back on it now I can’t believe we got married there,” she recalled.
The restoration and conservation of the historic lighthouse keeper’s cottages and a new visitor hub at the historic 17th century landmark was completed earlier this summer. One of two keeper’s cottages is owned by the Irish National Trust, and the other has been taken over by Clare County Council who list it online via Airbnb for rental during the tourist season. Interior designed, the original features on the listed building have been preserved as part of the renovation and the three upstairs bedrooms are now named The Watch, The Tower and The Lantern – a nod to the building’s maritime heritage.
With the success of Sarah and Darragh’s special day, Mr Day said he hopes other engaged couples will be interested in holding their wedding ceremonies at the site, and would “absolutely be happy to welcome more”. With that in mind, the manager plans to invest in a marquee for the coming season to ensure future events will be more weather proof. Previously, they had rented marquees out however, with the possibility of more wedding bookings, he feels it is well worth the investment.
Meanwhile, the 2024 tourist season has meant an increased number of visitors to lighthouse.
“This is my third season working here and the best one so far, and that is good for us. I know a lot of tourism-related businesses are saying it has not been a good season for them but for us it has held up reasonably. The weather is always a factor and certainly through July and August we had a Goldilocks band whereby the weather was not too hot or not too cold, and we did well,” he added.
Sharon Dolan D’Arcy covers West Clare news. After completing a masters in journalism at University of Galway, Sharon worked as a court reporter at the Sligo Weekender. She was also editor of the Athenry News and Views.