Bride follows in dad’s tyre tracks
LAURA FOLLOWS FATHER’S EXAMPLE BY ARRIVING AT CHURCH IN HUGE TRUCK
A BRIDE kept it in the family when she chose her ‘wedding car.’
Laura Braidwood followed her dad’s example 30 years earlier, and ditched a swanky limo or flash wheels.
Instead, she hitched up her wedding gown and climbed into the cab of a 32-ton truck.
Thirty-one years ago her dad, Stephen, arrived at St Paul’s Church in Walkden, Salford, for his big day in top hat and tails, in a 38-ton juggernaut.
On Saturday Laura, 29, arrived in an eight-wheeler Leyland DAF tipper borrowed from the haulage company her dad runs with his brother, Roy.
Stephen and Laura travelled in the lorry to St Mary’s church in Ellenbrook, where she tied the knot with fiance, Steven Sale, 29.
On August 15, 1987, when her dad married her mum, Deborah, his transport had also been supplied by the family haulage company, based in Little Hulton, which at the time was run by his late father, also called Roy. But on that occasion the bride went for a more conventional arrival – in the back of a Mercedes with her father, Brian. Back in 1987 Stephen told the Salford Journal: “I’ve spent all my life with waggons and I thought I might as well make my last journey as a bachelor in one.” Deborah said: “It was Laura’s idea to arrive in a lorry. At first I thought she was joking and kept asking her what time she wanted me to book her car for her – then I realised she meant it, which was a nice gesture. “Her dad drove the truck to church with Laura by his side in the cab before giving her away. He did up the truck so her name was on the side. “Laura’s grandad would have been so proud.” Just as at her parents’ wedding, convention won, however, as Laura and Stephen were whisked away to their reception in a Rolls Royce Phantom.