by Kathy Masterson
A LIMERICK bride-to-be has embarked on a social media campaign with a difference in a bid to convince ‘Take That’ frontman Gary Barlow to sing at her upcoming wedding.
Earlier this year, the singer pledged to sing at three fans’ weddings if they ‘stalk’ him on Twitter.
Patricia O’Shea (37) who has been a Take That fan since her teens, began by tweeting the star up to 150 times a day, along with family and friends, using the hashtag #garytoplayatpatriciaswedding.
The pharmacy technician and mother-of-one then stepped up her campaign by ordering a life-size cardboard cutout of Gary Barlow, which she this week brought on a tour of Limerick city.
Patricia has been sending the singer regular photos of their adventures around Limerick and beyond.
“We started by tweeting him every day. Then I thought I’d try and think outside the box so I bought a life-size cardboard cutout of Gary and we’ve taking pictures of us making a snowman with Gary, and having a movie night with him. I went to a surprise 30th for my cousin in Boston and Gary came with me,” Patricia told the Limerick Post.
“At the weekend, seeing as we had such lovely weather, I said I’d bring him around Limerick to show him what it has to offer. I brought him all around the city and took pictures of him at the Treaty Stone and the Castle and places like that. At the Castle, there were lots of tourists taking pictures of us, there were people out walking their dogs taking pictures, but it’s all in good fun.”
Patricia says her fiancé Richard Lowe, a DJ, and her six-year-old son Ronan are encouraging her in her bid to have Gary Barlow sing ‘A Million Love Songs’ at their wedding in the Castle Oaks House Hotel on August 8.
She added: “It’s a bit obsessive I know but I have to give it a go. He’s doing five weddings altogether, he’s already done two so we’re kind of waiting in limbo now. You won’t know until the day itself if he’s going to show up. What happens is he’ll tell one of the bridal party and they have to keep it secret. Otherwise, you could have 5,000 people turning up at your wedding.
“We’re hoping that having Shannon Airport just 20 minutes away will be a plus for us. We’re not living in the middle of nowhere, he can just fly in and out. “
Patricia says she has “a few more bits and pieces” planned for her campaign, including bringing ‘Gary’ along to her hen weekend in Kilkenny next month.
She concluded: “I’m having great fun, it’s such a distraction from the stress of organising a wedding. I’ve been telling people that I won’t be stressed on the morning of the wedding because I know Gary will be there. I’ll be happy on the day because Gary will be at the top table with me anyway, I’ll be bringing the cardboard cutout to the wedding.”
