RONAN WRIGHT FROM BELFAST and Irina Kochurova from Almaty, Kazakhstan, were married in St Brigid’s Church, Derryvolgie Avenue, Belfast, on April 25th. The couple met in the US in 2006, when they were both on the Camp America programme.
Ronan is the son of Siobhán and Brendan Wright, the RTÉ News correspondent in Belfast, and was educated at St Brigid's Primary in Belfast, and later at St Patrick's College in Armagh and Rathmore Grammar school in Belfast. He is a graduate of Queens University, Belfast, and is employed by the Belfast Telegraph.
Irina is the daughter of Alexander and Lubov Kochurova, and has a degree in English and Turkish from the Almaty University of International Relationships and World Languages. Her bridesmaids on her wedding day were her childhood friends from Almaty, Svetlana Malitskaya and Aida Abdulina, along with the groom’s sister, Catherine. They were married by Fr David O’Kane, PP in Rochdale in Lancashire, and an uncle of the groom’s mother.
The wedding reception for family and friends was to have been held in the new clubhouse at Portstewart Golf Club in Co Derry, where the groom and his father are members and the groom’s uncle, Adie Wreath, was recently captain. However, as with many new build projects, there was a slight delay in completion, and the celebrations took place instead in the Ramada Hotel at Shaws Bridge in Belfast. They hope to return to the new clubhouse overlooking the Atlantic and the Donegal hills for their first anniversary dinner next April.
Following the wedding, the couple visited the Mournes and the Antrim Coast - Irina is much taken with the rugged Irish coastline, because Kazakhstan is completely landlocked. They will continue their honeymoon in the summer when they return to Kazakhstan for a celebration with Irina’s family; those who were unable to attend the wedding watched the ceremony on the internet.
Ronan and Irina have set up home just off the Malone Road in Belfast.