For many couples, their wedding day is a hugely anticipated day, with friends and family joining them to celebrate their relationship.
While this might have been the case for one couple from Co. Dublin, it wasn’t without a hint of sadness that Jade O’Hanlon and Eric Whyte said ‘I do’ in September, before heading back to their former school together.
Here, bride Jane explains the poignant reason why she decided to go back to school on her wedding day…
“Myself and Eric are together since the September after I finished school, back in 2008,” she began.
“Eric was three years ahead of me, but even though we went to the same primary and secondary school together, we didn’t meet until I finished,” Jade explained.
“He said he had noticed me before though,” she added with a smile.
“We bought our house in 2012 and Eric proposed that Christmas, and of course I said ‘yes’!” she continued, adding that they tied the knot on September 18th of this year at Bayside Church, just down the road from their school.
“I was as cool as a cucumber coming up to the wedding but the morning of it I couldn’t stop shaking. My dad had to carry my bouquet because my hands were trembling so badly!
“After the ceremony, there was one place we had to go – and that was back to our old school.
“We have many reasons for returning to the school but one in particular. I have a great group of friends from school and to this day we are all still very close, and I believe the reason we have such a strong bond is thanks to David.”
“David O’Toole was one of our best friends in school. He was extremely funny, absolutely mad (in a good way) and had the kindest most caring heart you could want in a friend.
“David died when he was just 16 years old from cancer in 2005. He tried his very best to fight it and we all genuinely thought he would.
“We never in a million years thought he would leave us. So when he did, to say it was an enormous shock is an understatement. All of our worlds were torn apart – especially that of his mam Breege and his dad Gerry.”
“David was their only child and they raised him into the boy we knew and loved.
“Straight after David’s funeral a man approached one of our teachers saying he would like to donate money towards a memorial fund for David.
“So that’s what we all threw ourselves into. Everyone in the year arranged benefits, cake sales, school discos, raffles and bag packing – it brought us all closer together.
“Within a year we had enough money to build a garden for him, a group of us organized it and that’s us you see together in the photo.”
“We arranged for one special tree for David in the garden and it was planted by his mam Breege and it blooms all year round.
“When it came to planning my wedding and who was going I couldn’t help but think David wasn’t going to be on my invite list and his mam has since moved away so she couldn’t take his place.
“So I decided I was going to go back to David’s garden to include him in that way.”
A visit by former students celebrating their special day by including David O Toole (RIP) ) in our memorial garden pic.twitter.com/eoCF9uBDmL
— Pobalscoil Neasáin (@PSNeasain) September 18, 2015
“I spoke to David’s mam first as I wanted to make sure she was okay with it as his parents are always at the front of my mind when I think about him. She was thrilled and loved the idea.
“My wedding photographers were also on board, and did a fabulous job. The school gave us a huge welcome when we came and it was a very emotional time.
“From it being my wedding day, to going back to a school where we all have very fond memories and met some great teachers , to going to David’s garden and not only that, but going back with the people that started it with me and we’re all still such good friends to this day.”
— Pobalscoil Neasáin (@PSNeasain) September 18, 2015
“We all went to Neasins so I suppose you can say we have them to thank for all great friends we have in our life today.”
