A luxury four-star destination, set on a private estate, with beautiful Victorian walled gardens, Corick House Hotel & Spa is charming to no end. Nestled in the rolling Clogher Valley Countryside in Co. Tyrone, the venue is steeped in generations of rich heritage and a lush history. In these breathtaking walled gardens, Laura Hamilton married Richard Corbett on Saturday the 22nd of July in a romantic family-centric wedding. Hammond Photography photographed their gorgeous wedding.
The couple first met the weekend before Ireland's lockdown, in a bar in Hillsborough. Six months later Laura was in Portstewart with her friends and sisters for her birthday when she saw that Richard had uploaded a story showing he was in Portstewart too. With a lot of egging on from her friend, Laura replied and the two talked right through the night. Six days later they went on their first date and the rest is history.
Richard and Laura were together for almost 2 years when they got engaged. The two knew that they wanted to spend the rest of their lives together and that life was so much better as a couple. There was no big lavish proposal, the couple went one day and looked at rings together and that was it. They picked up the ring on a beautiful sunny day in August and sat in the garden with a drink and just enjoyed being with one-and-other before going and telling their families the great news.
Laura's hairdresser of over 10 years did her wedding hair. She wanted to look like herself so went for a half-up, half-down look as she never wears her hair fully up, adding two delicate white bead and lace hair clips for an added touch. Finding a make-up artist was a bit trickier as Laura was very fussy with how she wanted her make-up to look. "I had a couple of trials that went horribly wrong but then I found Catherine Flemming from Moira who specialises in bridal make-up and she was incredible. I knew straight after my trial that I wanted to book her for the wedding and I’m so glad I did." Not wanting to use her everyday perfume and instead wanted something that she could wear on special occasions, Laura wore Giorgio Armani Si.
When picking her wedding dress, Laura knew she liked the bardot style of dress and didn’t want anything too detailed or big. The night before my first wedding dress appointment at La Boda in Banbridge, they uploaded pictures of new dresses on their Instagram page and Laura fell in love. She ended up trying on the dress, a Pronovias gown with a low back and crystal appliqued nude illusion, and knew immediately that it was the one. "I got emotional behind the curtain before stepping out and showing my Mum and sisters as I was worried they wouldn’t like it on me but luckily they loved it too!"
For Richards's suit, the pair knew they wanted something different to avoid him and his groom's party blending in with the other guests. They went to McCalls in Lisburn loved the look of the navy tux and decided on that one. The suits were a classic touch with a signature colour, and just their luck no one else at the wedding was inadvertently matching. Richard added little cow cuff links that paid homage to his career as a dairy farmer!
Laura had three bridesmaids. Her best friend Leah, her oldest niece Ria and Richards's sister Kerry. For the dresses, Laura knew she wanted the colour sage green but couldn’t find one that suited all three girls. She ended up ordering satin floor-length halter dresses from ASOS and was pleased with the quality of them. It was important that the girls felt comfortable in and liked them too.
The couple had a traditional church ceremony in Richards church. "Walking down the aisle I knew I just wanted to clock Richard and look straight to him as I was so nervous about this part. But actually, as I walked in the first people I saw were some of my best friends from school and work and I instantly felt relief. Then once I made eye contact with Richard I didn’t notice anyone else. Standing beside him at the top of the aisle, holding hands and knowing everyone in that church was there to support our love was just the best feeling."
Laura & Richard had both been to weddings at Corick House before and loved that they only held one wedding a day. "Corick House was fantastic, the staff were great and the food was outstanding! Our guests still talk about how good the food was on the day and how welcoming the hotel staff were." Those two aspects were vital to the couple when choosing the venue. For fun additions to the reception space, the couple had a table with covered jars of various sweets that the guests could enjoy, they also had a photo booth that acted as their guestbook!
For the entertainment, the couple hired Whiskey Before Breakfast, a five-piece trad/folk/contemporary live band and DJ rolled into one! "They were brilliant and local to where we lived so had heard them play before." They played a huge range of music for all age ranges of the guests and everyone danced all night. The first dance was to “You’re Still The One” by Shania Twain, followed by Hall and Oates's “You Make My Dreams Come True” to get the guests up from their chairs and onto the dancefloor!
About the best decision, Laura had to say, "We were really happy with all our decisions for our wedding day. We had the most gorgeous flowers by Hummingbird Meadow Design. They were just incredible and the amount of compliments I still get to this day about my flowers is amazing. As Richard is a dairy farmer we had 2 milk churns decorated with flowers outside the church which were stunning. One of our favourite parts of the day was the speeches! They were so funny and we opened the floor after dinner to our guests where some family and friends got up to speak. After the church ceremony, we went up to Richards's farm, just a mile from the church, to take some pictures and they are honestly some of my favourite snaps from the whole day. Our photographer Conor really captured some amazing photography there. We were lucky with the weather up to this point because once we got to Corick House, the heavens opened and it rained all evening! So I'm glad we got our outside pictures taken at the farm as we got none in the gardens of Corick House, unfortunately."
About the worst decision, Laura had to say, "I don’t think there were any bad decisions that we made. Our wedding day went so smoothly and I loved every second of it. We didn’t have a cake and I don’t regret not having one. No one looked for it and we just didn’t fancy having one. We also didn’t have wedding cars and we used my mini to drive me to the church which was fun and more personal. Then Richard drove us the 90 minutes to Corick House and we had such a nice time just the two of us driving up together. We also saved a lot by not having cars."
- Gráinne