Croke Park offers venue for ultimate match

Gaelic Games followers will be well familiar with the concept of the GAA widow, whose husband spends every spare hour in pursuit of glory for club or county. Now here comes the GAA bride.

Croke Park has taken advantage of the new laws allowing civil marriage ceremonies in places other than registry offices to offer itself as a venue for the ultimate match of most people's lives.

Croke Park was the wedding reception venue last year for a couple who were Dublin fans, and has a number of receptions already booked for this year, but it has yet to host a wedding ceremony.

That is likely to change this year following the granting of a licence to Croke Park to host civil ceremonies.

However, couples will not be allowed to get married on the hallowed turf, which is out of bounds to everyone except groundsmen in between matches.

In any case, the legislation does not allow for outdoor marriages.

Instead, couples will be able to get married in two of the eight suites overlooking the pitch. They can tie the knot in the players' lounge which can take between 100 and 120 guests and is usually out of bounds for supporters. They can also hire the Hogan Mezzanine suite for bigger wedding parties.

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