Caroline Gotto and Hugh Black

VOWS: CAROLINE GOTTO AND Hugh Black were married at Holy Trinity Church in Crosshaven, Co Cork, on June 4th by the Rev David…

VOWS:CAROLINE GOTTO AND Hugh Black were married at Holy Trinity Church in Crosshaven, Co Cork, on June 4th by the Rev David Nuzum. Their reception was held in the newly-restored Grainstore on the grounds of Ballymaloe House in Shanagarry, which was decorated with country flowers. A piper awaited them.

Caroline grew up on a farm in Willowhill, Cork, and is the daughter of Christopher and Claire Gotto. She attended Newtown School in Waterford and went on to university in Edinburgh, where she studied environmental science. She has a younger sister, Jessica, and an older brother Richard, who also got married recently.

After her studies, she went travelling around the world, with an itinerary that took in India, southeast Asia, Australia, New Zealand, South America, the Caribbean, Canada and the US.

She and Hugh became engaged at the Colca Canyon in Peru in February, 2008. Hugh, a Scottish farmer, is the son of James and Ruth Black. He grew up in Arbroath and is the youngest of four children. He attended the High School of Dundee and studied agriculture at the Scottish Agricultural College in Edinburgh. Hugh has always been interested in farming; his family own and farm 900 acres in Angus, and he is now the farm’s manager.

READ MORE

The couple met when a mutual friend invited them to a fund-raising dinner dance in Edinburgh. They were sitting beside each other, had a “brilliant night”, but ended up taking their host to AE for stitches on his chin, after he tripped on a marble floor. That was four years ago. They became good friends and started going out two or three months later.

Since then, Caroline has been away skiing for five weeks, worked on a ranch in the US for four months, travelled with friends for seven months, and all without seeing Hugh. “This definitely made us build a really strong relationship, and also develop huge phone bills,” says Caroline. “Aer Arann has definitely done well out of our love – we’ve kept the Edinburgh-Cork route going.”

When we spoke, the couple were heading to the airport for a honeymoon destination still unknown to the bride. They will start their married lives on the farm in Dundee.