Organising a wedding is harder than the Olympics!

AN Olympic star plans on getting married in Macroom this August, right after she competes at the Cork City Sports.

However, while Olympian Priscilla Frederick, who represented Antigua and Barbuda at the games in Rio 2016 and her fiancé American Kenneth Loomis, whose family came from Mayo, had planned on having the ceremony at the local church, St Coleman’s, due to an unforeseen difficulty, they are have moved their celebration to a local hotel.

‘We are having a little bit of a difficult time trying to get married in the Catholic Church so our plan is to have the ceremony at Castle Hotel,’ Priscilla told The Southern Star.

‘We honestly just want it to be elegant and intimate. We want to experience all the sites Macroom has to offer, so we plan on taking photos throughout the town. We truly want an authentic wedding focused on love and faith.’

While both Priscilla and Kenneth have never been to Ireland before, Kenneth uncle, Tom Loomis has strong connections with Macroom and the annual St Patrick’s Day parade.

‘My fiancé’s family has ties to Macroom,’ Priscilla said.

‘His Uncle Tom Loomis has been organising a trip with the Woodland String Band to bring about 150 people every year to Macroom for the past 20 years to celebrate the St Patrick’s Day. He has built strong ties to the people of Macroom and the area. It’s like home to the Loomis family.’

Priscilla’s trip to Ireland is not just about getting married as she will be competing at the 69th international Cork City Sports as well as continuing on to other events across Europe.

‘Sometimes it feels that training for the Olympics was easier than planning for the wedding!’ Priscilla joked. 

‘Since we are doing it overseas, we technically are “eloping.” My fiancé’s uncle, Tom Loomis and aunt, Mary Loomis set up 90% of the wedding portion and we couldn’t thank them more. Kay McCarthy at Castle Hotel has been a life saver helping us get everything organised and my fiancé has kept me calm and helped me stay away from bridezilla mode.

‘I am extremely excited for the big day. The reason we are “eloping’” is because we wanted to focus on us, our love and our marriage, we didn’t want a year of planning for just a couple of hours.

‘We wanted an experience where Ken could also be apart of my track and field career and have it be memorable for both of us. Getting married in Ireland has cultural importance so our big day incorporates so much more than we ever could have imagined.’

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Bandon Co-Op is delighted to be involved with and supporting many local community groups all over West Cork. This video encapsulates some of the wonderful people that we have the pleasure of dealing with #TogetherStrongerWestCork