Priest took offence to wedding decorations in Wicklow church, planner says

Last weekend Edel was working on a wedding in Co Wicklow when she says she encountered a very angry priest who took huge offence to the decoration and informed Edel and her team they had to remove all of the decorations immediately, that "it was not a fashion show".

Edel felt the priest spoke to her very aggressively and was pointing his finger at her and things became quite heated.

He began to say he would not partake in the wedding if they decorations were not removed.

The aisle of the church was lined with six artificial cherry blossom trees - three on either side. The trees were 6ft tall.

There were battery-operated lanterns as lit candles are not permitted.

According to Edel, the priest who was to perform the ceremony approached a member of Edel's team and began "pointing, shouting, screaming" and the staff member was left very upset.

Edel told RTÉ Radio 1's Liveline that the priest told her, "What I say goes. I'm not having this".

He said it was a health and safety issue.

"We took out the lanterns and everything else except for the trees."

You can call #Liveline on 1850 715 815. The photo below is an example of the cherry blossom display Edel was trying to erect in the church when the priest put a stop to it. https://t.co/EPtI37bTXK

— Liveline (@rteliveline) October 4, 2018

Edel said that the priest also removed the bride and groom chairs, replacing them with the church's own chairs.

Edel was very taken aback as she has worked on three weddings in this particular church in the past.

Guests began arriving at the church and the priest rang both the bride and groom who were getting ready at home and having wedding photos taken.

The groom and his parents and were very stressed by what was taking place.

The groom arrived at the church early having received a phone call from the priest.

"He was in total distress," Edel said.

He said that they had to have the stuff as it was what the bride wanted and it had been her dream for her entire life.

The priest still refused to conduct the ceremony and the wedding planner rang the bride who was en route and told her that guests were delayed due to a crash on the M50 and that the ceremony had to be delayed by an hour.

As the weather was nice on the day, they moved the trees outside to create an aisle as the bride entered the church.

The bride, Jennie, also got in touch with Liveline while on her honeymoon to explain what happened.

"He was aware that I had a company coming to do up the church," she said.

"They had suggested a florist and I had declined the florist that they had because I had my own. The only thing we were told about the church was not to stick anything with Blu-Tac or thumbtacks to the pews, which didn't happen."

Dave, the groom, said that he received a voicemail from the priest.

"It was just like 'Dave, you have to stop what you're doing now. You need to get up to this church immediately, this is unacceptable.'," explained Dave.

Dave said that when he and his groomsmen arrived at the church, the first person they met was Edel who was in tears.

According to Dave, the priest told him he was not going to do the wedding unless the decorations were sorted and then walked away.

Jennie said that any time they had met the priest prior to the wedding ceremony he had been extremely pleasant and said that he performed a lovely ceremony.