My £999 Wedding

This programme contains some strong language.

If I had millions of pounds, I would like to get married in a castle.

Every little girl thinks of the big, massive princess castle and all that

kind of stuff cos that's, like, what you see when you're growing up,

with all, like, the dolls and that's what it is.

Weddings are a costly business.

The average couple spends around £20,000 on their big day.

People say the minimum they will spend is between 15,000 and 20,000.

Oh. No, don't think so.

What have you spent 10, 20 grand on?

You could go silly with flowers.

I can't see the point of spending loads and loads of money

on something that's going to be dead the next morning.

For those who don't have thousands to spare, there's an alternative -

the cut-price wedding package.

I think still people want their day. They still want the love story.

They still want to wear the big dress.

This is the story of three couples on a tight budget

who want their dream wedding.

I like that. That looks like me from the back.

You know, it's expected.

You got to do it cos it's what everyone does at weddings.

Oh, my lord.

Still feels like it's a little while away, we still got some time.

But actually, no, we have no time. There's no time left at all.

The Horseshoe in East Sussex

is a hotel and pub offering wedding receptions for £999.

Well, you're in the Horseshoe Inn.

Built in 1963.

Although it looks older.

Think they've tried to go castle-themed.

And then I don't know what's happened in between.

I don't know what he's tried to do

or what they tried to do when they built it.

We offer a 999 package Sunday through to Thursday, all year round.

It includes 50 people for a sit-down meal, three course.

They get a glass of wine with dinner

and they get a glass of bubbly to toast.

And then they get free room hire, which is our function room next door.

So it's a nice package for people that actually can't afford, um...

a luxury venue, I would say.

We're quite luxurious but not...not five-star.

We kept seeing the sign outside the Horseshoe.

-Yes.

-And we're like, "We'll just go and take a look."

As soon as we walked in, we was like,

"Wow, this is an amazing place."

Lee and Fiona booked their budget wedding a year ago.

Lee works delivering newspapers and Fiona's a carer for the elderly.

When they came, they informed me that they paid 999

and that they got their pound change from the £1,000 they'd handed over.

I realised then that this was going to be as basic as could be.

They're both working hard.

I know that it's hard for them to make ends meet - Lee's words.

-Right.

-Bridal suite. Nice big room to get ready in, should you need to.

Otherwise, a nice room to store your presents.

I think it's a well-used room.

-INTERVIEWER:

-Why did you choose the 999 package?

Cos I can't see the point in spending loads of money on something

when you don't have to. What's the point?

This is a beautiful place.

And it's the right price. You don't have to spend loads on it. No point.

-What she's saying is I'm not worth three grand.

-No!

THEY LAUGH

-INTERVIEWER:

-Have you been married?

-Yup.

SHE LAUGHS

Once.

Totally different reasons.

Do you still think it's a good thing to get married?

No.

Social pressure. There isn't.

Um...do I want to get married again,

have the limelight on myself again? Hated my wedding day.

Hated everybody looking at me. So, no.

If I ever do it, it'll be a quick job in Vegas, I think.

SHE LAUGHS

There are £999 weddings

and then there are weddings for just £1 more.

The Azur Restaurant in St Leonards offers wedding receptions

called a Grand for a Grand.

Sit!

DOG BARKS

Go in your bed! Now! Basket.

You're in the top table.

Dean has been organising weddings at Azur for six years,

with military precision.

What we need to do is make it even,

so it wants to come a little bit more this way.

And stop. And then have a quick count.

18, 20, 22, 24, 26, 27 and a half.

Which I think is absolutely perfect.

-INTERVIEWER:

-Is it actually possible to get married for a grand?

Yes, you can.

But you wouldn't have any drinks.

If you had guests buying their own drinks, yes,

you could get married for £1,000.

And have a very nice three-course meal with a choice of starters,

a vegetarian alternative, a main course and a choice of desserts.

And then have all your guests in the evening.

And tea, coffee and after dinner mints.

If you could get the vacuum

and vacuum this within an inch of its life.

And then we'll have the chairs in rows of four.

You get linen serviettes.

There's a blue carpet for the bride.

-You also get a rehearsal.

-It's fantastic.

I don't think there's a venue that's got a balcony like this

where you can go and have arrival drinks.

You get a master of ceremonies free of charge.

I think a master of ceremonies can be as much as £400, £500.

So it literally is what we say it is.

It's a grand wedding for a grand. Which is the whole idea.

Mark and Emily are getting married at Azur in less than three weeks.

The grand they're spending covers the reception, not the extras.

Just like the colour.

So Mark's bought his suit from the supermarket.

This is supposed to be what size?

Four inches too small.

And the jacket I can't even move my arms in.

Turn round, babe.

I am not turning round, I can't do my flies up.

-I am not turning round.

-EMILY SNIGGERS

It's like the most constricted...

If someone went, "Move your arms..."

I'm all right if I want to pee.

But if I have to put 'em anywhere other than waist height,

I'm buggered.

It ain't happening.

I have a pair of trousers...

that doesn't even meet in the middle.

-Can we not...

-No.

-..swap it for a bigger size?

They don't do a bigger size, this is it.

It's really nice, though. I really like it.

Oh, well, let's go down the road

and see if we can find a bloke that fits it.

Oh, dear. Well...

Hello. How are you? Hi, Emily. How are you doing? You all right?

Hello. He's got so much bigger, hasn't he?

He's nearly as big as me.

Come on, let's go through. Good to see you, guys, you all right?

-Yeah.

-Good.

Let's grab a chair over here. There's two ways we can do this.

We can either set this room out like a church,

as you've seen it on many occasions

when you come in in the big dress, which I think I'd like you to do.

because you're not going to get to do that at the registry office.

And then do you want little night lights on the tables at night?

-Yeah.

-You want very pretty, very fairy light, very Disney.

Sparkly, princess-y.

And then who's doing your flowers?

We're not really going to have many.

Budget-wise, it's just going to work out too expensive.

Would have been nice to have done the bigger thing

but it's just the way things have panned out. But...

I think what matters is that you're marrying the girl that you love

and you want to spend the rest of your life with.

And if we do it outside on the beach under an umbrella...

-that's what it's about.

-That's the be-all and end-all.

It doesn't matter if you spend £10,000 or £1,000.

Providing you're together for the rest of your lives

and you know that's what you want, that's what it's all about.

-Money doesn't make you happy, I promise you that.

-No.

MUSIC: Wonderful Tonight by Eric Clapton

Lee and Fiona from East Sussex got engaged last year.

CHEERING AND APPLAUSE

Their love story began over 20 years ago.

I was 21 and Fiona was 16.

I was a milkman and I used to have my transit milk float with me

all the time. We used to hang around in there.

When I dumped her - if you like -

I used to still go up there,

still ring her, still hassle her,

sort of wanting to talk to her.

A year afterwards, he was still pestering me.

-Didn't want to be with me but didn't want to let me go, really.

-Yeah.

-INTERVIEWER:

-Would you have stayed with Lee...?

-Yes.

-I would have done, definitely.

-Oops.

LEE LAUGHS

I was completely heartbroken.

Completely. I was.

But...yeah.

You just get on with life and I met someone else and we got married,

had the kids and, next thing you know, it's 20 years on, so...

-Yeah.

-Obviously, years ago, it wasn't meant to be.

But now it's right and it's good and...

-Yeah.

-We're getting married.

-Getting married.

The first time round it wasn't a big wedding

but it was organised in a week.

I got an outfit from just a shop.

It was just, got married, back to my mother-in-law's for some cake,

which was my mum's Christmas cake.

And that was it, really. There wasn't...

It wasn't a wedding as such, really, that's why...

This is like my proper wedding now. Doing it properly.

This is the dress.

My pretty dress.

It's all fully lined. It's got all the meshy bit underneath somewhere.

On the internet - I can't even remember which site it was -

I just put in "wedding dresses" and this one come up

and this one I liked.

But I just did all the measurements myself and hope for the best. So...

I couldn't warrant spending hundreds on a wedding dress.

I really couldn't.

-INTERVIEWER:

-So what did you spend?

£140.

The flowers...17.99 off eBay.

That was. Yeah.

I think they look quite real, really.

They're not too bad for fake flowers.

You're telling me you need the reference number

but I haven't received the reference number.

I haven't got a tracking number.

In St Leonards, Mark and Emily's wedding is only ten days away.

The £100 dress they ordered online has yet to appear.

If I e-mail them now and ask them for the tracking number...

Right.

I'm getting kind of impatient now.

Right, bye.

They haven't got it.

-INTERVIEWER:

-They haven't got the dress?

-Nope.

They haven't got the dress.

HE SIGHS

HE EXHALES

HE GRUNTS

-WEIGHTS CLANG

-Bastards!

You can walk up to that bar at any point and you can pick that up

and smash that and you know you can.

So it's just your mental aptitude today isn't 100%,

whereas it normally is. Cos you got all this other shit going on.

Clear your head, pick the bar up and do it again.

HE EXHALES RAPIDLY

Come on, Mark. Big lift. Easy. Come on, let's go.

HE GRUNTS

Go on!

Fucking hell!

Once you're in that negative frame of mind, Mark, you're not going to

-lift it.

-No.

-So, get the wedding out the way. It's not going to happen,

it don't matter what you do and how strong you are.

Mark and Emily first met at the gym 18 months ago.

They were both newly single after their previous marriages broke down.

But didn't really speak. Cos I was a bit shy.

I did notice her.

You can't not notice someone that bounces around everywhere.

Especially wearing luminous pink.

She had a cracking set of abs on her.

And just bouncing everywhere, so, yeah.

Come on, come on, come on.

Good girl, come on. Straight.

'She's my best mate.'

She sometimes understands what's going through my head

before I know myself.

When she says, "I know you," she does know me.

'People can think "You've only known each other a short space of time,"

'but you can't say what makes it different. It just is.'

Early in their relationship, Emily fell pregnant.

These are some of his bits we've saved.

from when he was in the hospital and stuff.

His little book of his pictures.

Their son, Louis, was born ten weeks premature

and both mother and baby were in a critical condition.

The strain of it all, on the baby and her, was too much, really.

It's hard, cos she was passed out most of the time

and didn't look at all well.

Very grey, very weak and very ill.

And, at the same time, he was two floors up,

in exactly the same condition and it was hard to...

..to know whether to be downstairs or upstairs.

I remember when Emily's parents come over.

And I was nervous as hell cos she looked horrific.

And I felt really guilty because...

..that's their daughter and you're supposed to be looking after...

taking care of...

And I guess over the years of me, in my life, I have messed up,

not always been the most caring person.

I never used to cry, I never used to be in touch with how I felt.

I used to switch off and put a wall up.

But, last year, it changed in the fact that...

it was first time I cried in years.

Up until recently, it's just been a continual rollercoaster

of meetings, appointments and hospitals and jabs and checks

and it's just on and on and on.

You never get to put closure on it cos you never get time to stop.

It was a happy time obviously that we had a baby but it was a sad

and stressful time cos of everything that was going on and...

..that's like... Getting married is, like, the new year, a new start...

-It's the closure.

-It's closure to everything that's happened.

We can now move on.

Sonia, a bus driver from Swansea, met Jackie seven months ago.

Within weeks, she had proposed.

-Are you on the bus with Sonia most days then?

-Yes.

I need to be, I need to be with...

I need to see her.

She knows that, she wants to see me.

She has long shifts.

I don't know how she does it sometimes, mind.

But she enjoys me being on the bus with her, so I will make the effort,

every effort to go and be with her.

'I loved her from the very first time we met.

'It's something that you can't really explain.

'You know, I didn't even know by just looking at somebody and, you know...'

they're smiling and they talk to you, it's...

-how deep it can actually go.

-Mm-hm.

The wedding, it's going to finalise things

and I so can't wait for it, with knowing then that she's mine.

I know that sounds bad, doesn't it?

Well, no, because you'll be mine as well!

-Yeah, that's it, that's the word.

-No!

There's our wedding list.

They're being strict with their wedding budget

but they're not skimping on the details.

This is my suit.

Everything's all in here.

Cos we bought them off the internet.

-The suit was £139.

-Yeah.

For the three piece. Mine was 75.

The headbands, which I made for the little flower girls,

they cost about £2 to make.

These were like 40p.

-Were they 40p? I think...

-No, 22p.

-22p and they were like...

-9p.

-9p.

And with the rings...

-They weren't expensive, were they?

-No.

Think they were £40 each.

-Where did you find the rings?

-Argos.

Are you quite a bargain hunter?

-Oh, yes!

-Yes, yes, yes! Very much so.

-Yes!

Anything I can get for nothing, I will get it.

-Which one of you was married before?

-Me.

-It was you.

Did you have all these lovely details when you first got married?

No.

I didn't. It's a...

I didn't really want to get married.

It was to a man.

Obviously where I come from, in Anglesey, they're very prejudiced

and tradition goes along with wanting children

to the point that my father wouldn't give me away on the day

because he knew, deep down, it wasn't the right thing I was doing.

But, having said that, I got married, I had my two boys.

You got married because you wanted children?

Yes, to give them, the boys, a name.

When I was 17... 18, 18!

But I made many mistakes after that, cos I battled with my sexuality

until I've come to this point here.

I'm so excited to the prospect of doing all these things

and I want her to see me as I really want to be.

This town's lost a lot of business over the years, you know,

with out-of-town shopping.

It's affected them, they've lost a lot of business.

They're closing down.

At the moment, all you see is hairdressers and charity shops

and estate agents.

Do you want to run over what you've got?

-Yes, please.

-OK.

-If you don't mind.

Right, that's your four choices.

-Eliminate that one first.

-Right, just let it go.

BALLOON RAZZES

-Sorry!

-There.

Right, I think Sonia would go for that one,

because we've got the butterflies on our wedding invitations as well.

-Oh, right. Fab then.

-Yes...

Jackie's paying for her wedding decorations week by week

when she can afford it,

like many of the shop's customers.

Like, I've had two customers in this morning, maybe three, again,

they've not bought anything, they just come in, one lady put £2.

The last lady put £1 because she said she missed last week.

On account, she got nothing put away but she just saves

so then when Christmas comes in, all her cards that she buys,

cos she said she's got a large family, are pretty much paid for.

They find it easier, you know,

and, as long as it's all paid for 48 hours before, it's fine.

-Right.

-What's my remainder, the bill, for a start?

-Right, for all the balloons and everything, you've paid for it.

-Yes.

-You've paid in full.

-Yes. So I haven't paid for the ribbons.

-No.

-The book.

-Yeah. It's 31.74.

Right, so if we could arrange a week before or something like that?

-Yeah.

-We can have a look at what we're going on about.

-It's fine.

I'm having a break down.

I'm not really. Um...

What with three days left, trying to get as much work out the way

and trying to get everything else fitted in between.

Now I'm repairing someone else's bodged job

and then, after this, we've got another car to do.

Mark lost his job as a car mechanic two years ago.

He's now setting up on his own to provide for Emily,

their baby, Louis, and Emily's three other children.

Last June, we moved in.

Not too keen on the area, it's a bit hectic round here.

There's always kids, like, on the bottom of stairs and stuff,

riding their bikes

or the supermarket trolleys up and down the road.

I don't know, maybe I'm a bit overly motherly with them.

Just like to keep them safe.

I've got commitments, you've got to pay for children

and we've got bills to pay.

And we've been living... Doing more on a day to day basis really.

I mean, their food budget's gone right down

to less than £50 a week now on food.

But we manage on that.

We don't drink, we don't smoke, we don't go out, you know. So...

That's a smart meter so, like,

it tells you how much electricity you're using. When I'm cooking,

I turn the freezer off to keep it below a certain amount.

Apparently, we're only using 95...

watt. Surely we must be using more than that?

No.

Apparently, if we stayed like this the whole time,

our electric bill would be £9.45 a month.

But it won't because obviously when we turn things on it'd go up.

You've got the boiler going

plus you've got that thing plugged in as well.

The actual thing that uses electric

to tell you how much electric you're using!

-EMILY LAUGHS

-You switch it off, that's £9!

-Yeah, but don't it have a battery backup?

-No.

It should keep the screen. That's rubbish, innit?

What does it have to be on?

170.

To save money, Mark and Emily are making their own wedding cupcakes.

And, to use a bigger kitchen, they're cooking at Emily's mum's.

-"Place the cupcake cases into the tray."

-Done.

-Done.

I've never made a cake.

I'm out of my depth here, to be honest with you.

-It's a cupcake!

-No, seriously.

If you asked me to build a wall or fix a car, I'm there.

-Right, are you ready?

-I'm in the queue, first in the queue.

Mixing and making cakes, I am not there.

-Is this the correct quantities?

-Yes.

-You sure about this?

-Yeah, it says 100ml of milk.

-To mix to what consistency?

-Until it's got no lumps in it.

I'd rather have tried to get an extra couple of jobs in

to pay for a cake but, no, we're doing it this way.

I've always worked from an early age

and then, for one reason or another,

I lost work sort of mid-2012.

And not having anywhere to live so I was in the car at the time

but the problem is you don't have an address.

-You were living in your car?

-Yeah, I was in the car.

You don't have an address so, to try and get yourself on your feet,

you require an address to sort of be able to...

A base to start from.

For one thing or another, I just couldn't seem to get a break.

I don't really want to talk about it too much.

It's not something that I'm really sort of that proud of, to be honest.

Yeah, we're one of the only couples that have never dated

and Em's place got repossessed at exactly the same time

so it was just kind of this is it, get on with it really.

-It's been such a long year.

-It has, so much has happened.

-Anyway, moving on, the cakes.

-Oh, the cakes!

Oh, my Lord, that ain't right. Seriously.

Why have they gone like that?

I don't know but they don't look like that. No, they just ain't no good.

How hard can it be?

It's the morning of Lee and Fiona's wedding.

Is it difficult to make everything look nice for 999?

Difficult if they're real budget, then they do expect us

to make the table look as nice as we can with what we have on site

and we use leftovers from other weddings.

We've got Karen, decorator,

she has left this up from a wedding yesterday.

She's replaced the chair covers, given them the sashes

and she's done centrepieces for them as well.

I don't have that flair, I wish I did but I don't.

You want to give them the day

that they really probably deserve as much as, that they want.

And if we can surprise them and make it that little bit more special,

you get a certain buzz out of it.

Seeing their faces as they just walk into this room and it's the dream,

it's just lovely.

Lee and Fiona will have to wait to see the decorations

until after their ceremony at the local registry office.

Lee was smitten with the place

and they wanted to get married through there

but it was about £500 for the registrar to come to site

and we charge £250 for the room.

And he did ask if I could waiver the fee to get married here

but I had to refuse so... I know!

'I'm getting married for different reasons this time.

'Last time, I got married because I was pregnant,

'I wanted the same name as my child.

'You know, it was organised in a week.

'Just, "Let's just get married."

'Ever since Lee came along,

'everything's been really, really good.

'He just makes me laugh, he's just so funny.

'And made me smile again, he has. Really made me smile

'and I love him to pieces.'

What greater thing is there for two human beings

than to feel that they are joined for life?

I, Fiona Claire Bristow, do take thee, Lee Norman...

..to be my lawful wedded husband.

To love for always.

To love for always.

To trust and to respect.

To trust and to respect.

And to live according to these promises.

And to live according to these promises.

-In good times and bad.

-In good times and bad.

-From this day forward.

-From this day forward.

Thank you.

It gives me the greatest pleasure therefore to declare

that you are now lawfully husband and wife.

Congratulations to both of you.

APPLAUSE

With the wedding,

we can take up to an extra £4,000 to £5,000 per day.

So actually from the 999, for the food,

isn't as much as what people think.

I have to be clever with the suppliers,

then the rest of the day is based around selling 20 bedrooms

for the bride and groom,

having the bar open,

hopefully, we take a one to three grand day on the bar.

Keeps the running of the business, keeps the team in hours,

for them to come and work and keeps me busy.

-Is this what you'd hoped it would be?

-Yes.

-Oh, it's more.

-Yeah.

-It's more. More than what we wanted.

-Really good. Lovely.

-Yeah.

-Really, really nice.

-It's just... The decorations...

-Just blown away.

-Yeah.

-Amazing, really good.

-Really good.

-Yeah. Yeah, it's brilliant.

-Finally...

-We've done it!

-..we got married!

Sonia and Jackie have chosen a different kind of venue

for their wedding, a function room on the outskirts of Swansea.

-Enough space to dance, do you think?

-Oh, yeah.

Yeah? THEY LAUGH

Yeah, all right!

Hate dancing - I've got to practise that one!

Yeah, you've got to... THEY LAUGH

I don't know where Jackie and Sonia heard about us,

because they didn't even make a phone call -

they just walked in on us.

They just came strolling in one day.

We've always done weddings,

but we do the lower budget wedding, put it that way.

We give them...

Rather than putting packages out there,

that this is going to cost you X amount of pounds per head,

we, you know, basically tell them - or they tell us, I should say,

what they... what they want, and we provide it.

They're meeting to negotiate the deal and see if they can afford it.

So are we sticking to the same menu?

That's what I wanted to go through with you.

I mean, we did agree, if we went over too much of our budget,

-we would...

-..cut back on certain things if you need to.

Yeah, the starter.

Wasn't it?

-Yeah.

-Right, what we've got -

we've got 32 adults at...

With a leek and potato soup, turkey dinner with all the trimmings,

-and your chocolate fudge cake for your dessert.

-Yeah.

90 buffets at £5 a head,

five bottles of sparkling wine for your...

Is that with - that's for your speeches, yeah?

-Yes.

-Yeah, that's for your speeches, OK.

-Your room and your disco included in the higher price...

-Yeah, what's...?

Yeah, we need to go over our bill with that, as well.

The bill of fare on it.

Right, well, let me tell you what that comes to.

That's £1,168.

That's inclusive of everything.

With the soup?

Eh? That's with your soup.

Ooh. That's even better.

What are we missing out?!

-We don't have a...

-You wasn't going for a reception, are you?

Buck's fizz and all that, was we?

-You weren't doing anything like that.

-No, I don't think so.

No.

There's 400, Steve, if you'd like to check that.

Marvellous, 400.

-What's our balance now?

-668.

-668.

-Yeah.

-See? He's written it down again.

-Just testing.

Are we covered?

Yeah, I think we're covered now, yeah.

Thank you.

-Thank you very much. Cheers.

-See you.

-Thanks, Steve.

We have to draw the line and say, life does go on after a wedding,

and we do have to carry on living.

Saving, and paying our way, basically.

We've got so much in common, as to our backgrounds and growing up,

and that does help.

-Yeah.

-Cos it's been tough on both sides.

Big families...

You know, the poverty's been there, so we're all...

-We're, both of us, we are from the same cloth.

-Yeah.

Jackie's worked all her life.

She's a cleaning manager for Tesco.

Plenty of water with my tablets, unfortunately.

But recently she's had to stop work because of a chronic lung condition.

When I was born, they knew I'd inherited my dad's disease.

He suffered bad - he did, he really suffered bad with it.

I try not to think about that, because it's scary.

Things have gone downhill rather than got better,

and, I mean, who wants to be lumbered someone like this?

I mean, my mind is with Jackie.

When she's not well, that's the most difficult part,

cos I want to be with her.

But, unfortunately, after the job,

I have to keep a roof over all our heads...

..pay for things.

Sometimes I get stuck with, "What do I say? What do I do?"

I don't want to do or say anything to her that might...

make her worry more.

I was afraid of losing her when my health started to deteriorate.

Because I don't have much trust in people,

and it's taken me years to get where I am, for example.

In trusting - and finding someone somebody that I can love myself.

I don't want to lose her, basically!

I don't want to lose her.

Mark and Emily have a last-minute rehearsal

for the blessing of their marriage.

I've not done a blessing here before,

it was something that Mark and Emily asked me to do,

because they're getting married at the registry office,

because their budget is quite small,

and to have the registrar come here is nearly £500.

So, yeah, it's a privilege to do that for them.

Hello.

Grab a seat, guys, quickly, we'll just... Have you got your music?

This is what we talked about, cos...

I can't do it. I don't know where to start, or...

-OK.

-..what to have, cos we really don't listen to music ourselves.

OK, it would've been good

if we could have had the music here today,

because there might have been a certain piece

you wanted to go into where the cannons roared,

or Michael Jackson screamed,

or Westlife did whatever they do,

but is there a song that means something to you and Mark?

Is there a song, Mark, that comes on the radio and you think of Emily?

-HE LAUGHS

-To be frank with you...

-OK.

Because we spent so long in that frigging hospital...

Yes, I understand that.

-We've not been anywhere, we've not dated...

-No, no.

-..we've not been anywhere or done anything, so...

-I understand, OK.

The most important bit

-is so you understand on the day what you're doing.

-OK.

We'll improvise with a piece of music

-that we've had at a different wedding.

-OK.

Just to give you some idea.

If you want to come over here, Mark.

So, if we can have all the bridesmaids that are here...

-If I'm having a funny turn...

-Yeah?

-..what do I do?

I'll give you some smelling salts.

-Right...

-Sweet.

You will be standing here.

-There.

-Waiting for Emily.

-OK.

And then, when I do the blessing,

I'll ask both you and Emily to come and stand here.

OK?

Right, it's just me...

-DIRECTOR: What's going on, Mark?

-What's going on?

-Mm.

-I'm shitting a brick.

No, I'm all right... I don't know, it's a lot to take in.

-Are you not allowed to...?

-I've not seen the dress, and that, and...

I might well up a bit, I don't know.

I'm a bit nervous about that.

I don't really show me emotions all that much.

But I think I might...

I think I might. I feel like I might now, but...

Don't tell her about that.

# Waaa!

-# I feel good... #

-Oh, shut up, eh?

-This ain't happening.

-# I knew that I would, now... #

No way.

# I feel good... #

I'm not getting married to James Brown.

What's wrong with James Brown?

-It's a classic hit wonder.

-# So good

# So good

# I got you. #

DIRECTOR: How did your dress suddenly turn up?

It turned up in a carrier bag on my front door.

All scrunched up. So I sort of hung it up.

I didn't want it to be all creasy.

I don't think she'd have been happy with a small dress.

-Would you?

-No.

What do you reckon?

Yeah. I like it.

I like it.

Princessy!

-It's perfect, Mummy.

-Is it?

-Just try this on.

-Yeah.

Not to strangle me.

Are you?

Liz, did you ever think that Sonia would get married?

No.

Sonia was...

..fine. But when she was young, get her girlie stuff - no.

All she wanted - boxing gloves...

-SHE CHUCKLES

-..and punchball.

All boys' stuff.

But I love her.

As long as she's happy, I'm happy.

-I had long hair right up until I started work, didn't I?

-Yeah.

-And my first wage packet...

-Yeah, I remember that!

..I had it all cut off.

And my father was really disappointed in me.

But it's something I wanted to do.

Nice, innit?

I like that - that's an added touch, cos that wasn't there.

I don't know, I think Jackie'll like it.

What does it mean to you, about Sonia getting married?

How does it change things, do you think?

Um...

In a way, it's like I'm losing her...

But I know she'll be there, so... it's all right.

It's Mark and Emily's wedding day.

I can't have these guys here.

Get all of these cigarettes here, look - can you see all of this?

Maybe even get that bucket gone - and can we wash these down?

And then - Peter! We need the rest of them on here.

And we can put these lights on,

and then we can tick that off in our brain, so it's done.

It's gotta be right -

you know, they've spent a lot of money, I think.

Yes, it's a grand for a grand, but it's still £1,000 -

it takes a long time to earn £1,000.

So it's got to right, hasn't it?

You know, if I get this wrong, I'd go home and I'd worry about that.

So, yeah, it's gotta be right.

So, yeah, of course it's important!

It's been a bit chaotic,

considering we've only been together a year and a bit,

and we've got a seventh-month-old baby.

I think it's shown our strength as a couple

to get through everything we have.

-Does it mean a lot to you that you're getting married?

-Yeah.

Yeah, definitely. It's just showing a commitment to him.

That, you know, I'm here. I'm not going nowhere.

Sometimes he does get a bit upset about things

and doubts himself a bit, I suppose.

But I'm not going anywhere.

I think this is a good way to show him that I won't and that I want him.

And to have a nice day would be awesome.

Right. Hi, everybody.

We do this every Thursday, every Friday, every Saturday.

So we know exactly what we're doing. 50 guests.

Their starters are melon and orange cocktail with a basil sugar

or tomato and basil soup with warm, crusty bread.

There is one lady sitting at table two,

Linda is going to tell you about in a moment, who is allergic to orange.

She is having a fan of melon with a raspberry and strawberry coulis.

The main course.

Most people are having traditional beer battered fish and chips

with mushy peas, bread and butter and pickled onions, etc,

which we do very well.

I am going to give a system so you know when to start

and you know when to finish and you know when to come down

and you know when to bring down your starter cutlery.

So we'll do this very professionally, as we always do. OK?

Thank you.

-How are you? You look very smart.

-I don't. I'm sweating like buckets.

I can't...

HE SIGHS

-CHILDREN SHOUT

-Hello.

Hello, everybody. Welcome to Azur. Are you all right?

Can we take your coats and we'll hang those up for you?

-Thank you very much.

-Are they the right size?

Shirts cutting into my armpit, the shoes hurt my feet,

trousers are too tight, the jacket's too tight,

my boxer shorts are too tight.

HE GRUNTS

Ladies and gentlemen, a very good afternoon and welcome to Azur.

Could I ask you all, please,

to be upstanding to welcome the bridal party.

# I've got sunshine

# On a cloudy day

# When it's cold outside

# I've got the month of May

# I guess you'd say

# What can make me feel this way

# My girl, my girl

# Talkin' about my girl... #

Ladies and gentlemen, a very good afternoon and welcome to Azur at

the Marina Pavilion in St Leonards on this wonderful sunny afternoon.

They couldn't have picked a better day to get married.

Emily, in your eyes, I have found my home.

In your heart, I have found my love.

With you, I am whole, full and alive.

You make me laugh, you let me cry.

You are my breath, my every heartbeat.

I am yours and you are mine, of this we are certain.

You are locked in my heart, the small key is lost.

There you will stay forever.

I take you as my husband.

I promise above all else to live in truth with you.

I give you my hand and my heart and pledge my love, devotion

and faith and honour as I join my life with yours.

No amount of words could describe the love I hold for you.

THEY APPLAUD

So, really, ladies and gentlemen,

I have one thing last to do and that's to ask Mark to kiss his wife.

CHEERING AND APPLAUSE

We're three-and-a-half minutes into this, guys. Come on, quickly.

Can you do another bread and butter very quickly,

for these two on the top table, please? Now!

And again. I don't know where yours went.

Go. Just go now, quickly.

Take that as well and they've got two. Just go.

That was less than four minutes. Well done, everybody.

No matter whether it's £1,000, £10,000 or £100,000, you know,

it's about two people at the end of the day and that's what matters.

Things are looking up.

What I want from this is some time with Em, you know,

to sort of start afresh. This is our clean slate.

That's what you need is closure on all the rubbish.

Just four days before her wedding, Jackie has a hospital appointment.

Her chronic lung condition has begun to affect her heart.

'The basis is they're looking at heart failure,

'which is...that's the classic name for it.

'The valve is not working, heart not pumping too fast.

'Anything to do with the heart, basically.

'But I don't like that word. Failure.'

'It does get me.'

That does get me but, with the lungs, I've coped with them.

But, with the heart, knowing it's the main organ,

sometimes I feel I'm coping but other times I just feel,

what if I'm not going to wake up in the morning?

So, you know, the last thing I do anyway,

as I've done every night, is I just hold on to Sonia,

give her a kiss and tell her how much I love her.

'She has concerns.

'I get the feeling she thinks that, cos she's unwell,

'she thinks that everything's going to change.

'Well, it's not going to change.

'It doesn't change the way a person feels.'

-You all right?

-Yeah, I'm all right.

-Sure?

-Yeah.

-Sure?!

-Yeah.

-Hello.

-Hello.

-I've seen you before, haven't I?

-No, I don't know.

I recognise you anyway, I'm sure. I'm sure I recognise you.

-How are you doing, Jacqueline?

-Not too bad.

-Come on in. Come on in.

-I'm not going on that, am I?

-Yeah. At least half an hour.

-What? Am I?

-I haven't got a pump on me!

-No, I'm only kidding.

We're going to pop a little monitor on you now

to just record the heart rhythm.

I understand you've been to your GP about some bumping in the chest

you might have experienced. I'm Jonathan, by the way.

I'm one of the clinical physiologists.

And this is going to be the monitor that you're going to be wearing.

Aw, come on now.

Hey, this doesn't hurt. There's no needles or anything like that.

It's not that, it's the results.

We've got to go through that now to get the results, hey?

Come on. Tell you what, you have a sit on the bed for me a sec

and I'm going to wash up a sec.

You can pack that in for starters.

You're going to have me going otherwise.

-Right, so what are these symptoms then?

-Mainly it's the asthma.

The asthma is the issue. You've got the shortness of breath with that.

She's been having palpitations, quite a lot of palpitations

and shortness of breath, dizzy spells.

Things like that.

Once this test has come back and we know exactly what's what,

-they'll put her back on...

-I'm just afraid of the results.

We need to know what heart rhythms you've got

going on over a 24-hour period.

The long and short of it,

then they know which way to go about treating you then, don't they?

So are you going to be happy enough to go ahead with this test?

Yeah?

Jackie will need to have further tests over the next few months

before she has any conclusive results about her heart.

'It does seem as if life is cruel.

'I've just met Sonia and things are going downhill in my health.

'It's so unfair.'

I feel it's unfair but I'm so happy.

I just want to get on with it as much as I can to some normality.

I don't mind. The money is nothing to me anymore.

It's only cos I used to keep a place, I used to try and survive.

I don't think about that anymore but obviously I want to help Sonia

so we hope to get things sorted out soon.

It's a fact that knowing I've got somebody who loves me

and I love her as much as she loves me and I've got the family

round me and the family back home,

and I don't want for nothing else.

Nothing at all.

-Yeah, I mean, you know, it's...

-Just to be married.

-Yeah, well, we're going to have that.

-Yeah.

Too many chairs on this one.

It doesn't cost anything to make things look nice, really, does it?

Up until about one o'clock this morning they'll be singing

and dancing, hopefully, and spending a bit of money.

We don't do the actual service itself.

We haven't got that license yet.

Any business is good business at the moment.

If someone wants to spend £600 on a wedding

or someone wants to spend £6,000 on a wedding,

we'll do it exactly the same.

Mrs and Mrs.

It's a first. It's a first.

We've had same-sex engagements but we've never had a same-sex wedding.

-She'll be out.

-She will be here. She will be here.

My head's all just muddled up.

-My head's everywhere.

-You're fine.

-I can't even...

I had some of that in my head and I can't even remember any of that.

Right, you'll be fine. OK?

Look at me. You're fine. Right?

-Five minutes, you will be fine. OK?

-I'm sweating now.

Ladies and gentlemen,

would you all be upstanding for the arrival of the bridal party.

And do you, Jackie Davies, of your own free will,

take Sonia Vidler to be your wife

and promise to remain true to her for the rest of your lives together?

I do.

Many people spend their lives searching for their soul mate,

their one true love.

I'm the luckiest person to have found you.

I love you, Jackie, and I know you are my one true love.

I'm so happy that we found each other and I shall never let you go.

I give you my heart today and, for the rest of our lives together,

our hearts shall be as one.

As a ring has no end, my love for you will be forever and eternal.

I will always stand by you, stand by your side, hand-in-hand,

no matter what we face, we will always be together.

I take you as my wife today and for the rest of my life.

Jackie, you're my world.

Sonia, my vows are given from all of me to all of you.

I vow to listen to you, talk to you and kiss you good night every night.

I vow that, when I open my eyes each morning,

I will tell you how much I love you.

Sonia, I give all of me to all of you with my heart and love, eternally.

That's lovely.

It therefore gives me great pleasure to declare you are now married.

-Congratulations. Llongyfarchiadau!

-CHEERING AND APPLAUSE

We are going to be upstanding

and welcome the lovely couple, Mrs and Mrs Vidler.

CHEERING AND APPLAUSE

# Days like these lead to

# Nights like this lead to

# Love like ours

# You light a spark in my bonfire heart

# People like us We don't need that much

# Just someone that starts... #

'It has been a bit of a trek, really, but finally, we've...

'You know, I've come to where I am.

'Whatever I've been through has been through for a reason.

'I've come out to where I am and I hope to go on for many years now,

'happy, which I know I will be.

'I do love her and I've never felt it before, not this type of love.'

# Today is our turn

# Days like these lead to

# Nights like this leads to

# Love like ours

# You light the spark in my bonfire heart

# People like us We don't need that much... #