It’s rugby wedding season as players and brides dash from one glam bash to the next

This will be remembered as the summer of back-to-back marriages, with many moved up a month into June because the Rugby World Cup squad training camp starts next week.

The first week of this month saw no fewer than five rugby wedding celebrations take place over eight days in Spain, Portugal and Ireland.

It took some finely tuned planning but players and their partners succeeded in attending multiple nuptial celebrations, with some of the Munster rugby and Ireland crew driving 470km across southern Spain from Joey Carbery’s stylish wedding party in Marbella to attend Conor Murray’s celebrations on the Algarve five days later.

New Zealand-born fly-half Carbery and Robyn Flanagan from Co Kildare kicked off the season when they held their wedding celebration in Marbella on June 1 in front of family, friends and some of his Munster and Ireland teammates.

The couple had already done their official ‘I dos’ at Dublin City Hall, so with “step one” completed, as Joey called it, the newlyweds could relax into the celebrations which, the rugby player posted on Instagram, was the “best day of my life”.

Munster, Ireland and Lions number nine Murray and his Derry-born model wife Joanna Cooper held their outdoor wedding party at the luxury Pine Cliffs resort on June 5. They jetted out to the Algarve as husband and wife, having had a secret Irish church ceremony a few weeks earlier attended by two witnesses and their dog, Kevin.

June 8 saw Leinster and Ireland player Garry Ringrose marry Ellen Beirne from Dublin with a black-tie wedding reception in Virginia Park Lodge, Co Cavan.

The following day, Ireland, Lions and Leinster prop Tadhg Furlong from Campile married Aine Lacey from Cushinstown in their native Co Wexford, with the reception at Dunbrody Country House Hotel.

On the same day, Dave Kearney, newly retired from Leinster, and Becca Mehigan from Dublin held their wedding celebration in Quinta do Lago, having been married at the Civil Registry office in May, at which they were photographed with their dog, Kali.

This week, Leinster prop Ed Byrne got married to Rebecca Long in Marbella on Thursday.

And that’s not all. Leinster and Ireland back row Jack Conan and Ali Cunningham will marry this summer, and Leinster and Ireland prop Andrew Porter and his fiancée Elaine Sutton are getting married in July.

The Rugby World Cup starts in France on September 8, with France playing New Zealand in Paris.

Ireland’s campaign starts the next day when they play their first Pool B game against Romania in Bordeaux.

Whatever about moving weddings from the usual July window into June, honeymoons are impacted too for the players chosen by coach Andy Farrell.

The Ireland camp starts on Monday for two weeks, followed by a week off, then two weeks back in camp and then another week off.

Style-wise, rugby players tend to dress down a lot because of their professional sports lifestyle and they chose lots of different looks for their weddings, from black tie and formal to relaxed linens and pale suits.

David O’Connor, general manager of gentleman’s outfitters Louis Copeland & Sons, consulted with a number of the rugby grooms, including Carbery and Murray.

Explaining their different approaches, Mr O’Connor said: “The brief that Joey gave was that he wanted a tux, he wanted a very formal kind of look, and we made him a made-to-measure suit with wide peak lapel.

“We discussed whether to go for a waistcoat or not and Joey decided not to go for one and I think that was the right decision.

“Conor Murray said he wanted a more casual look and he wore a bespoke wool and linen blend suit, open neck shirt, no socks, loafers and I thought the two of them looked incredible.”

Wedding dress consultant Mary Toner knows only too well the logistics of planning a rugby wedding.

Mary (nee Scott) married now-retired Leinster and Ireland second row Devin Toner in July 2016 in Summerhill, Co Meath.

Six months out from their big day, she got a call from her fiancé to say they would have to push out their wedding by a week because the IRFU had changed the date of the last Ireland match, and it clashed with their wedding.

Mary says: “The wedding style has changed in the last seven years, and I am so envious of the freedom that brides have now.

“I think the pandemic did a lot in terms of freeing up what people feel is appropriate for weddings, and traditional just went out the window – it’s not always your traditional ballgown and veil now.

“I think it’s just more fashion-forward now and completely allows brides to do their style in bridal, which is really exciting.

“It’s their style but through a wedding lens.”