Love is certainly in full bloom for these Dubliners, who are set to get married today, straight after taking part in the annual Bloomsday Bike Rally in aid of the Irish Youth Foundation.
Most brides-to-be would be fussing over last minute preparations before tying the knot, but Alfreda O’Brien and her fiancé will in fact be hopping on their messenger bikes in full Joycean costumes with over 150 other cyclists before they even get to the altar.
Ciaran Kavanagh, who manages the renowned Gravediggers Pub in Glasnevin, and his fiancée Alfreda will complete the two and a half hours trip around Joycean Dublin singing a rendition of Molly Malone with the Lord Mayor on the route before hightailing it to the City Hall to get hitched!
The love-struck Joyceans met four years ago when Alfreda won a charity raffle in The Gravediggers and the pair have supported the Irish Youth Foundation Bloomsday Bike Rally every year.
“I was told she was Italian, so I went to present her prize to her as I lived in Italy for a number of years and can speak fluent Italian. I began speaking to her and she looked at me like I had two heads,” joked Ciaran.
“It turned out her mother is Italian. She grew up in Dublin and therefore she had no idea what I was saying to her.”
Alfreda is a true Bloomsday fan: “The first thing I ever cooked for Ciaran who is a trained chef was a Bloomsday breakfast when he finished work on Bloomsday 2011… I’m a very happy, lucky bride to be, not just meeting one in a million but one in a lifetime.”
Aaaaaaw. More like a fairytale that a Joyce novel, no?
