More and more weddings are screening major sporting events because guests are “going to watch it anyway”, a wedding photographer has said. 

The issue has been much debated on social media in recent days after a video of a wedding celebrating a goal in the Ulster club football final went viral. 

The wedding was that of Monaghan GAA star Ryan McAnespie to Laura Carey, whose brothers were playing in the Scotstown versus Kilcoo fixture. 

On Lunchtime Live, the mother of the groom, Brenda McAnespie, described the match as “one for the history books” and that the atmosphere at the wedding was “electric”. 

“Laura’s two brothers playing and the whole Scotstown connection, 70, 80% of the people at the wedding would have been from Scotstown,” she said. 

“So, the whole game was watched throughout the meal.” 

Originally, the wedding was booked so there would be no clash with any football fixtures. 

However, the Ulster Club football final had to be pushed back. 

“The way it worked out, the mass, the ceremony was at 12 o'clock and Laura, she has a love for football,” Ms McAnespie said. 

“She's a brilliant person, family person, community person. 

“Once Laura knew the boys were fit to be there for the actual ceremony, Laura was very happy. 

“Just the way it worked out, the game itself was fixed for quarter past six in Armagh.

“So, the two brothers were fit to be there for the whole day, the actual ceremony itself, which Laura was extremely happy about. 

“So, they went from there to the football.” 

A group of people at a wedding looks at the phone while playing sport. Picture by: Alamy.com. 

Also on the programme, wedding photographer Katie Kavanagh said the issue of sporting fixtures “comes up a good bit” especially during summer weddings. 

“We were asked, we got married in a country house and people were very concerned over whether there'd be a telly and there wasn't a telly and could I get a telly?” she recalled. 

“Could I get a bus that they could go to the local village to watch us? People were sending, like, screenshots of the timeline and slotting in where they thought I could show the match.

“People are supporting teams longer than I'm with my husband. So it kind of makes sense.”

At the end of the day, Ms Kavanagh suggested happy couples just accept that people want to watch the match. 

“They're going to watch it anyway, so you may as well turn it into a telly,” she suggested.

Main image: Football mad bride Nadine Hanlon reacts whilst watching the FIFA World Cup 2018 quarter-final match between Sweden and England. Picture by: Alamy.com.