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The Bill, the rain and a day to remember
The best man Lee Dodgson and groom Jonathan Gibbon-Hayes re-enact their favourite TV show The Bill
A PROPOSAL by candlelight and a best man’s speech which had the guests in stitches.
It all helped to make up the perfect engagement and wedding for Emma Gibbon, 31, and her husband Jonathan, 30, from Hartlepool, who took their vows at Shotton Hall, in Peterlee.
The couple (pictured) from Clavering married on July 17 last year and had both their ceremony and reception at the Peterlee venue.
And although the heavens opened, Emma described it as “a marvellous day”.
Emma, who works as a nurse, said: “Other than the weather, everything was fantastic.”
One highlight was the speech by the best man Lee Dodgson who recalled how he and the groom Jonathan spent their childhood watching the popular police drama The Bill on television.
It led to a rendition of the programme featuring the groom and best man playing their favourite characters Jim Carver and Tosh Lines complete with props and a false moustache!
Emma said: “The staff at the venue congratulated us on how fantastic the speech was.”
Mum-of-two Emma also recalled how her romance with Jonathan first started. “We went to the same school originally but I was a year above him.
“Then, I was at a hen party in Leeds and Jonathan had gone to watch the cricket. We saw each other on a night out and got in touch via Facebook. He sent me a friend request.”
The couple started going out in October 2008 and by July the next year Jonathan had popped the question.
Emma recalled how her daughter, Chloe Gibbon-Hayes, 14, was in on the surprise.
“I came home from a late shift one day and there were little tealights everywhere. Chloe was at the door when I came home and she was greeting me on my way in. She led me to the dining room where Jonathan was on one knee and all the tealights spelled out ‘marry me’.
“I said yes straight away and then I cried. I wasn’t expecting it at all.”
The couple – who have now both taken on the surname of Gibbon-Hayes - originally planned to get married in Cyprus this year with a reception when they came back to be held at Shotton Hall.
But Emma added: “We brought the wedding forward a year and had it all at Shotton Hall. It was wonderful.”
The newly weds then got to enjoy a honeymoon in Ibiza.
And since the wedding, there has been a new addition to the family. Emma and Jonathan’s son, Oliver James, was born on New Year’s Eve, 2011.
SEE WEDNESDAY’S MAIL FOR MORE PICTURES FROM THE COUPLE’S SPECIAL DAY
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Weather for Hartlepool
Monday 28 May 2012
Today
Sunny
Temperature: 9 C to 22 C
Wind Speed: 12 mph
Wind direction: East
Tomorrow
Sunny spells
Temperature: 9 C to 16 C
Wind Speed: 10 mph
Wind direction: East
