THE BRIDE wore cream, but the dominant colour in the marriage yesterday of singer Andrea Corr and Brett Desmond, the son of billionaire businessman Dermot Desmond, was black.
Black-tie wearing guests arrived in expensive black marques, some with blacked out windows, for the wedding which took place in the beautiful hilltop church of St Joseph’s in Miltown Malbay, Co Clare.
The most studied entrance was by U2 singer Bono who turned up fashionably late with his wife Ali in a black Maserati.
Other guests took buses which were laid on to and from the Doonbeg Golf and Spa Resort where the lavish reception was held last night.
Among the early arrivals were two former managers of Celtic football club, Gordon Strachan and Martin O’Neill – Dermot Desmond being a major shareholder in the club – and golfer Pádraig Harrington and his wife, Caroline.
Also there were racehorse owner and business tycoon Michael Tabor, comedian Patrick Kielty, model Pamela Flood and MCD promoter Denis Desmond (no relation) and his wife, Caroline.
About 400 guests attended the wedding. The same number of locals and passersby ringed the church railings to see the wedding party and guests.
The bridesmaids, Andrea Corr’s sisters Caroline Woods and Sharon Bonner, her now sister-in- law Zoe Desmond and her childhood friend Niamh McElwaine, wore full-length blue dresses.
Shortly after 2.55pm, the bride arrived to an appreciative cheer from the crowd.
Wearing a strapless cream Vera Wang wedding dress, Andrea (35) was kissed by her sister Sharon when she alighted from the car. She waved to the crowd and gave a broad smile.
The chief celebrant of the Mass was Fr Malachy Murphy, a friend of the Corr family, and it was concelebrated by Fr Joseph Brennan SJ, Fr Simon Sleeman and the Rev Battie Desmond, friends and family of the groom.
During the Mass, The Corrs’ mother Jean, who died when the band’s fame was at its height 10 years ago, was remembered in the prayers of the faithful.
The couple chose Mark Knopfler's The Irish Boy, from the movie Cal, as the entrance song. They left the church afterwards to applause and a version of Planxty O'Connorarranged by Donal Lunny.
“It was a very tasteful service,” said one guest, “there was no rubbish at all. It was dead simple and lovely.”
After the wedding party left, locals marked the occasion by taking souvenirs in the form of some of the beautiful and expensive flower displays in the church.