Bláthnaid Treacy on bridal bliss and the reality of freelancing

TV and radio presenter Bláthnaid Treacy talks to Jess O Sullivan about enjoying the post-wedding bubble with her new husband and why it's still a little weird to use the 'H’ word.

Many brides dread the lull that inevitably comes when the excitement of their big day is over, but six weeks after her dream wedding to long-time love, musician Charlie Moon, TV presenter and radio host Bláthnaid Treacy is revelling in the downtime.

We catch up on the phone, as Bláthnaid is in London for a few days with her new husband, visiting her best friend, Holly. I can see from Charlie's Instagram that they spent the previous day riding around Victoria Park on rented bikes and enjoying some drinks in the heatwave.

"I’ve been friends with Holly since I was four, and she was one of my bridesmaids," says Bláthnaid. "The last time I saw her was at the wedding, but that was such a hectic few days, so it’s nice to just to catch up and
decompress."

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By some Irish wedding standards, Bláthnaid’s was relatively small, with the two saying 'I do’ in front of 120 of their nearest and dearest at Kippure Estate in Blessington, in their home county of Wicklow. However, it naturally came with the pressure every couple feels before such an important event.

"It’s quite an overwhelming time. Everyone says to just soak it up, but nobody tells you that it’s also a scary time and that it’s okay to feel a bit wobbly. That’s the one thing I want to tell new brides. Don’t worry, you’re going to feel a little bit weird and that’s normal. I was actually grand leading up to it, and not freaking out at all, and then the day just before the wedding it was like, ‘Woah! is is a huge event that we’re organising and inviting everyone to.’"

Bláthnaid says that a make-up artist friend, who had worked with many brides before, had already warned her that the moment would come. "I’m so glad she said it to me because I knew then that it was that moment. Then on the day you just want to party and have fun."

After a weekend of celebrations, the couple relocated, just the two of them, to a hideaway in beautiful Belmullet for an Irish mini-moon.

"It’s a beautiful calm place, so we went there for four days after the wedding. Charlie’s aunt and uncle have a holiday home there and it’s really homely. We cooked loads of food, listened to podcasts and just slept because we were absolutely wrecked after the wedding."

"It was the perfect place to re-energise and reflect on the whole weekend we had just had, to talk about everything and look back over our photos. A family friend got us a wonderful picnic basket as a wedding present, so we packed up a lovely picnic, went over in a boat to the Iniskea Islands and had the most gorgeous day."

Like anyone who works as a freelance contractor, learning to embrace her downtime rather than worry about work has been something that Bláthnaid has had to master over time. "I’ve been freelance for eight years and the summertime is when we spend most of our time together because there isn’t a lot filmed in summer so Charlie and I usually go away for a month."

The couple have ticked off destinations like Vietnam and Cambodia from their travel bucket list and it was on their holiday in Mexico last year that Charlie popped the question. "You have to enjoy it when you’ve got quiet time, to re-energise and that’s the big thing I’ve learned over the last few years. If you have a couple of weeks off, plan things, visit friends and do the stuff you can’t do when you’re up the walls busy.

"The rest of the time I’m doing tonnes of different jobs. Like last year I was doing the cycling series Now You See Me, some Xposé, then preparing for Dancing With the Stars as well. I think I worked every day for two months, which was crazy."

Bláthnaid knows that it’s important for her career to evolve at the same time as she does as a person. Some
readers will remember that she cut her teeth playing Miley and Biddy’s daughter, Denise, on Glenroe at the tender age of three months, so she is no stranger to the business.

"The further you get on in your career, you want to carve out a niche for yourself, but you don’t want to do something that is untrue to you. Like, it would be weird if I wanted to present the news. But it’s important to step out of your box. That’s why Now You See Me was so good because it was different to what I’d done before and it was nice to show that side of my personality.

"And I’m 31 one now, so I’m not the 22-year-old who was on TwoTube. Obviously, I still love music, movies and all of that but as you get older your interests change and mature and when you live life you have more experiences and it opens your eyes up to what’s happening around you."

Bláthnaid admits that she and Charlie have yet to book their honeymoon. They are adamant that work won’t get in the way. "We’re going to go on our honeymoon in September, island-hopping in Greece, but we’re last minute.com, always. We can only getaway for two weeks this year, so Greece is not too far and is beautiful. I was actually in Crete for my Sixth Year holiday, but this will be much nicer – Santorini, Mykonos and Paxos. We’d get bored if we were in the same place doing the typical stuff. We like to go and explore new places. That’s how we roll."

Even so, should a dream job offer come along that neither could refuse, Bláthnaid knows that she and Charlie, understand how important their careers are to each other. "The two of us just get it. Charlie can get a call last minute to do a gig, and it’s like 'Yeah, go for it.’ I’m not going to get annoyed because we had plans. And it’s the same with him.

"But we are trying to think like, ‘September, we’re going on our honeymoon and that’s it.’ And I’ll probably get offered a gig, but I’m just going to have to say no. But then if I did actually get offered a really good gig – I could say ‘Will we just reschedule?’ and he’d totally understand."

She acknowledges that she is lucky to have someone like Charlie in her corner; apart from his awareness of the freelance life, she says he is someone she can laugh and have fun with.

It’s obvious that the two have a lot of fun times together, and I have to ask her how she managed to convince Charlie to dress up as Posh Spice for the recent Spice Girls concert in Croke Park. Her Instagram picture showed Bláthnaid dressed up as Baby Spice, joined in fancy dress by her former 2FM co-host Stephen Byrne (Ginger), her best friend Holly (Scary), Holly’s partner Mark (Sporty) and a pouting, posing Charlie.

"Myself and Holly were obsessed with the Spice Girls. We live in Stoneybatter where the video for the song 'Stop Right Now' was filmed, so we had to dress up and take photos. Stephen Byrne was coming over but, of course, we were two Spice Girls down, so we had to rope in the boys and they were more than happy to
oblige. It was a really sunny day so all the neighbours were out having a drink on their doorstep and the kids were all playing with chalk, and they all started laughing and put on Spice Girls tunes and we took photos. It
was so much fun."

Despite still clearly being as full of energy as she was when Bláthnaid started presenting RTÉ’s TwoTube nine years ago, now at 31 years old, her career path over the last year has evolved. She presented the companion show to Dancing With the Stars, Can’t Stop Dancing, but also dipped her toe into more serious content alongside Simon Delaney for the documentary series Now You See Me, which she found hugely interesting and rewarding.

I ask her if it feels weird and awfully grown up using the ‘H’ word to describe Charlie? The couple met when she was 19 and he was 18 and apart from a gap (when they broke up and got back together again two years to the day), the pair have been inseparable since.

"Yes, it’s weird using the word husband. But we’re still the same couple. I don’t feel any different. But I guess it feels closer, and more secure. Not that we weren’t those things. We’re together years. Since we got married, the dynamics of our relationship haven’t changed, but it just feels really nice. And it feels nice to tell everyone, all our friends and family, that we’re mad about each other and we’re going to keep on doing this."

I ask her if she thinks this is the difference between a wedding and a marriage. "Yes, like we were really excited for the wedding day, but I’m really excited for the future and building our life together. Obviously, we
were always partners in crime, but we’re officially partners in crime now. What are we going to do? Let’s go create a life for ourselves and build a life together. That’s what it’s all about."

Bláthnaid Treacy on bridal bliss and the reality of freelancing

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