Our Wedding Story: 500 Dutch tulips sent to Ireland for our big day

Clare Keaveny and Johan van Iersel

Clare, from Blackrock, Co Dublin, had been working at an accountancy firm for four years following graduation from Trinity College, before going to Uganda as a volunteer with a non-governmental organisation (NGO) which sends accountants to support staff running community-based organisations.

In December 2012, she was on a safari at the Murchison Falls and at 4am, in the breakfast queue, met Johan, an urban planner from the Netherlands.

“It was an unusual first meeting – he was blinding me with his head torch! We both went home after that. I visited him in Amsterdam. He visited me in Dublin. Then I began working with an Irish NGO in Kenya and that was the start of a very long-distance relationship between Africa in Amsterdam.”

In 2014, Clare moved to Amsterdam – where they both now live – and the following year the couple went on holiday through Peru and Panama.

During a four-day trek in Santa Cruz, “we found an idyllic spot to set up camp, just beside a small river,” she says.

“Johan put the tent up and cooked, I did the dishes in the bitterly cold river. I returned to the tent and my hands were freezing so I knelt down, trying to warm them up. At that moment Johan was down on one knee, but I didn’t even notice. He said, ‘Will you marry me?’ And I said, ‘Yeah sure’, assuming he was joking.”

“I realized he was serious, said ‘Yes’ and we celebrated in our tiny tent in our thermal sleeping bags with Champagne that Johan had carried around with him for days of hiking!”

On September 23rd 2016, Clare and Johan were married in her family’s local church in Mount Merrion, St Therese’s, by the parish priest Fr Tony Coote. “He was a great support and source of wisdom for us both,” says Clare, daughter of Josh and Marie.   “It was so special to be in that church . . . Having the wedding close to home also meant my Granny could be at the mass and having her there meant a lot to both of us.”

The bridal party was made up of Clare’s sister Niamh her two closest friends, Lynne Andrews and Moninne Creaney, and her cousin Ruby, the flower-girl.

Johan’s parents are Tinus and Marian van Ireful and three friends – Jurgen Schilders, Coen van der Sanden and Koen Severijns – were his groomsmen

“For most of Johan’s friends this was the first Irish wedding ever, his groomsmen included. Even to go shopping to buy the same suits for the men was a major event in itself!”

At the reception in Palmerstown House Estate, Co Kildare, the wedding cake on display had been made by the couple’s friend Kate McSwiney, the bride’s brother “wooed the crowd as MC and guests were treated to a hilarious surprise Carpool Karaoke video starring Johans’ friends.”

Any more traditional Dutch touches?

“Johan had insisted on getting 500 Dutch tulips sent over for the big day . . . and he succeeded!”

Photographer: Rafal Borek