Eye-catching bale display heralds upcoming County Derry nuptials

A colourful display formed from a collection of hay bales has been catching the eye in north Derry in the run-up to a local wedding next month.

Cahir Cooke and Michelle Feeney are preparing for their wedding on October 15, and in a bid to dissuade the traditional wedding 'doing', the groom's mother has engaged her creative streak.

“My mammy was the one who planned the whole thing,” Cahir's sister Catherine Spencer told the County Derry Post.

“Cahir would be a big farmer and she was the creative one who wanted to do something a bit differently.

Cahir Cooke (Slaughtmanus) and Michelle Feeney (Claudy) are due to be married next month.

“Usually tradition is the trailer and the doing, and she didn't want to do that, so she decided to put this up for a bit of fun.

“Cahir and Michelle bought land up there too and they're going to be building after they're married, so we put it up in the fields.”

The structure depicts the bride and groom dressed for the wedding, complete with flowers for Michelle and a top hat formed from a tractor tyre for Cahir.

Perched on either side are flags representing their club GAA allegiances.

“Cahir would be Slaughtmanus and Michelle would be Claudy; she's a great wee player,” said Catherine.

“It's gone mad. I put up a wee video and it got a load of views and comments. Even the local priest messaged Michelle saying he believed we had a few local celebrities.

“They've had a really good reaction with the pictures. I was up doing a Reel for Instagram and people were stopping the cars to take photos and all too.”

However, any passers-by hoping to catch a further glimpse of the structure will be left disappointed.

“It's actually been taken down now though, because Cahir was decapitated,” said Catherine. His head came off, so it's down now. It must have been the weather. It was all secured with straps and that but it must have been fairly windy!”