PRESS RELEASE
Lucky for some! Friday 13th special Valentine’s Wedding
WeddingDates.ie is unveiled as the Brides #1 choice
Cork, Ireland – Friday the 13th was the auspicious date that Ciara Crossan chose to launch her new business weddingdates.ie by re-creating a very special Valentine’s wedding in the Cork Vision Centre on North Main Street.
The Bride and Groom arrived in a Bentley and sashayed up a pink carpet to enter the converted church. Over 200 guests at the “Wedding” were treated to a champagne reception and pink and blue wedding cupcakes. The scale model of Cork which dominates the Vision Centre was a great backdrop to launch a proudly Cork-based business and it glittered on the evening with fairy lights. Some special guests included Niamh O’Hanlon, the Cork Rose and Catriona O’Connor, the Rose of Roscommon who were delighted to show their support for a budding new business. Catriona commented, “The website is a great idea, a really simple concept but so helpful for people planning their weddings in Ireland. I will be passing it on to the overseas Roses who are thinking of coming to Ireland to get married!”
Special guests Jenny the"bride" and Triona the Rose of Roscommon (c) Peter Sweeney 2009
Over 40 wedding couples were in attendance on the launch night and were able to sample a variety of wedding suppliers at the event. Close up magician Ger Kearney was on hand to charm the guests with tricks like making a bottle of champagne appear out of thin air and making his wallet go up in flames! Europes #1 high energy band, The Marvels got loved up couples in the mood and onto the dancefloor for the Valentine’s special event. The showcase evening was so successful for them, they booked 10 weddings on the night.
RED from The Marvels wows the bride and groom (c) Peter Sweeney 2009
WeddingDates.ie is a unique and innovative website that allows engaged couples to select their chosen wedding date and the county in Ireland where they want to get married, and get back an interactive listing of hotels with availability on their preferred wedding date. They can then filter the results based on guest capacity or price and send an enquiry to the venue to arrange a viewing of the property at a suitable time.
WeddingDates.ie was set up last October by Ciara Crossan, from Kerry Pike and from the beginning the business has been supported by the Cork Enterprise Boards and Enterprise Ireland. Ciara is currently one of the select group of budding entrepreneurs in the region participating in the Genesis Enterprise Programme, an incubation program for new start ups in the Cork area.
Denise Kennedy, Manager of the Genesis Enterprise Program said of the event; “In the midst of all this economic doom and gloom, Ciara Crossan and her team are a ray of light. Their incredible energy, dynamism and professionalism adds up to the “can do” attitude that always delivers success in starting a new business”
Ciara remarked that she “gained great encouragement during the start up phase by the hotels who signed up to the website very early on. It really shows that in this economic climate, all businesses need to be smarter about how they target their customers and there is always room for something new and innovative.”
For hoteliers and wedding venues, WeddingDates.ie drives direct enquiries from couples seeking to get married in their venue; that matches their criteria in terms of availability, price, guest capacity and facilities. And for couples, it solves the headache involved in phoning around every hotel individually looking for information. It’s a perfect match!
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