Relationship
“I’m Getting Married To My First Cousin – He Has 73 Best Men, We Want The Whole Town To Know About It”
And this the reality of a gypsy girl.
Getting married to a cousin is legal in the United Kingdom and Ireland; however, concerns remain about its morality. Also, marrying a cousin is now common among traveler communities, and YES, Chantelle Kielly decided to marry her first cousin Jim in a ceremony graced with the bespoke Barbie Cake, and the whole town is invited.
The couple wanted a ceremony that the town would never forget and had nothing less than 73 best men.
According to a tradition, traveler families from the town spend at most ten months of the year traveling before returning in December for wedding season, where there can be up to ten occasions in a week. Both Chantelle, 18, and Jim are one of them, with the bride’s family catering for the engagement by paying the groom’s family a dowry which ranges between $54K to $129K
For the occasion, Chantelle, who lives in Rathkeale, donned a dress with no less than 20k crystals, designed by traveler favorite Thelma Madine.
She also opted for seven bridesmaids, but groom Jim went all out with many men.
Reflecting on the wedding, designer Thelma [pictured] shared: “They are really nice people, the girls are very respectable. We always say the Irish travelers are going back 50 years, but the Rathkeale girls are going back 100 years. They’re all family and I think that’s how they keep the wealth in Rathkeale because they just don’t let it go out.”
However, the couple is featured on Channel 4’s Big Fat Gypsy Wedding.
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