Valentine TV surprise for Clodagh and Daryl

IT’S not every day you sit down to watch your own wedding on national television - on St Valentine’s night - but that is how Rathfriland couple Daryl and Clodagh Corrigan will be spending the most romantic evening of the year.

The couple, originally from County Wicklow, feature on BBC3’s popular ‘Don’t Tell the Bride’ programme which first aired last night (Monday) and is being shown again this evening at 8pm.

Speaking ahead of the broadcast, the nervous groom admitted he and his new bride would be watching with a glass of wine in one hand while biting the fingernails of the other, not quite sure how it will all come across to viewers.

Not long returned from honeymoon in Prague, the newlyweds are among only a handful of Northern Ireland couples to feature in the cult BBC3 programme which challenges the groom to secretly organise all the details of his wedding - including the bride’s dress - within a budget of £12,000.

“The pressure was huge, as obviously, you want to get the dress right because it is the most important thing for the bride on her big day,” said Daryl. “I am sworn to secrecy until the show is aired, but all I can say is that Clodagh did like it - in the end.”

The joiner and his doctor wife settled down in Dromore Street, Rathfriland, only a few months ago and the wedding was held in Wicklow in January.

But, despite saving on financial costs, Daryl said agreeing to the filming constraints was not as easy as it appeared and both he and Clodagh found the cameras intrusive at times.

“This programme is a big deal and when I first watched it, I thought, ‘I could do that!’,” he says. “But, after we were selected, it proved more difficult than I thought and there were a few disappointments - particularly the way a surprise I had organised for the dress was revealed to Clodagh. I wasn’t happy with the way it was done.

“I think we needed the honeymoon - which, thankfully Clodagh organised - just to relax, be on our own and get away from all the cameras.”

But while the experience proved a bitter-sweet one for the bride and groom, Rathfriland woman Lynette Douglas was ecstatic when she received a call asking if her bridal boutique, Platinum Brides, could be featured in the programme.

“I am a huge fan of ‘Don’t Tell the Bride’, so I was really excited when I was told Daryl wanted to come here to look at dresses,” she said. “I wasn’t able to advise him of course, but his final choice of a white satin Sophia Tolli dress with diamontes on the front and sweetheart neckline was stunning.”

And while Lynette says Daryl took care and time in making his final choice, she was a bit taken aback by a bizarre request to attach an extra detail.

“When he told me what it was, my first thought was ‘No’, don’t do that!’,” she said, adding enigmatically, “but it works - when you undertand the reasoning behind it.”

All will be revealed tonight (Tuesday) on ‘Don’t Tell the Bride’ which goes out on BBC3 at 8pm.