Sarah and Timmy's special day
Looking stylish and elegant, Mullingar couple Sarah Jane Foster and Timmy Murphy emerged from the flower-bedecked church of The Immaculate Conception, Kingscourt, County Cavan last week as man and wife.
Timmy, a sportsman and coach, works as an SNA at Holy Family school on the Ardmore Road, while filmmaker and videographer Sarah runs SJF Productions.
"It was such a magical day," said Sarah after the ceremony, at which the celebrant was Fr Joe Campbell, originally from Rosemount, who is attached to Tullamore parish. Sarah’s dad Jackie walked Sarah down the isle.
Following the church ceremony, the wedding party assembled in Cabra Castle in Cavan.
Like many couples getting wed in these times, Sarah and Timmy had their fingers crossed hoping that there wouldn’t be any sudden lockdown or restrictions to interfere with their plans:
"We didn’t have to postpone at all thank God," says Sarah.
"We booked our wedding in the middle of the pandemic and had no clue if it would go ahead with restrictions.
"We always said we would have a summer wedding, but Cabra Castle only had January 21 available.
"When I got home and told my mam (Cora) it was booked, she informed me it would have been my grandad Molloy’s 86th birthday (Matt Molloy, Ballymore). I was happy to hear that and took it as a good sign, and we stuck with the date and had faith it would go ahead."
Sarah and Timmy have been a couple since 2006. "I met Timmy in my early teenage years as he was my brother Daniel’s best friend! We started dating when I was 16," says Sarah.
The couple got engaged in December 2019 during what was for Sarah a surprise trip to New York: "Timmy told me he was taking me to London – until we got to Dublin Airport, where he informed me we were actually going to New York – my favourite place in the world!"
Timmy, son of the late Anna and Scott Murphy, of Dublin Bridge in Mullingar, is well-known in sporting circles. In his role as a strength and conditioning coach, he works with teams such as Cullion Hurling, Clonkill Camogie and Mullingar Athletic.
A runner of some talent, he came second in the last Mullingar half Marathon (in a time of 1:12:15).
As granddaughter of Mick Foster of Foster and Allen fame, Sarah was delighted when her grandfather and Tony Allen agreed to play – so the music was top class all day, right from the ceremony through to the Irish traditional music session at the reception and then later in the evening when they provided the music for some jiving and waltzes.
"Everyone loved it. There was music for everyone," says Sarah.