Patrick Kielty has opened up about his marriage to his long-time friend and wife of two years Cat Deeley. The comedian and presenter, whose fans were somewhat surprised when he tied the knot with Cat six months after they went public with their romance, has said that the speedy way the wedding came about was unexpected for him too. "It was such a shock for me as well," he told the Belfast Telegraph. "We were going out together and next thing I'm standing there and Cat turns up in a wedding dress and I'm like 'What the hell is this about?'"
Patrick and Cat were friends for ten years before they got married
Patrick, 44, and Cat, 38, who first met when they presented talent show Fame Academy together in 2002, stepped out as a couple a decade later in March 2012 and married at St Isidore's College Church in Rome in September. "People wait [to get married] because they need to get to know each other first," he explained. "Cat and I were friends for such a long time, a good ten years, so we already knew each other very well."
The couple married in Rome in front of close family and friends
Ireland-born Patrick was also quizzed on how he and London-born Cat managed to keep the details of their Italian nuptials a secret. "It's not as if we were telling our guests not to tell anyone about it," he said. "We just kept the guest list so small that very few people knew. That's how we kept it a secret. We didn't want a big wedding. "We just wanted to run off somewhere sunny and get married. There was no big planning really and it worked out great on the day. We just had immediate family and around six friends each. To be honest, we didn't really care where we did it, we just wanted to be married."
Patrick and Cat first met in 2002
Emmy-nominated Cat, who divides her time between Ireland and the US where she presents So You Think You Can Dance?, previously opened up about how she and Patrick got together after being friends for so many years. "I told him I was having a birthday brunch with friends at the Beverly Hills Hotel," she told Red magazine. "He got on a plane to London, then another plane to LA, then he came straight from the airport with his bags, walked in, sat down and had brunch with me. "And then, when I went to pay for everybody, they wouldn't take my card because it had all been taken care of. That's quite possibly the most romantic thing anyone has ever done for me. And he was just sitting there hanging out with 12 of my friends, making everybody laugh. It was romantic, noble, kind of amazing and pretty hard not to fall in love with him."