‘IT’S LIKE A DREAM’ – ECHO’S WEDDING WINNERS TIE KNOT
TWO childhood sweethearts had their dream come true after tying the knot thanks to the South Wales Echo’s Win a Wedding competition.
Emily Bendon (nee James), 29 and Michael Bendon, 27, from St Mellons, in Cardiff, were married at the Village Hotel on Saturday in front of 81 guests including friends and family and their one-year-old son Zach.
The couple who got together when they were teenagers at Rumney High School, won the day of their dreams worth about £20,000 after collecting tokens in the Echo and being the lucky ones to win the prize draw.
Emily, a maintenance company worker, said she and Michael, a selector for a supermarket’s distribution centre, were planning to marry in 2020 but thanks to the competition their big day surpassed all expectations.
She said: “It was fantastic, it all went smoothly and it was a perfect and really amazing day. It still doesn’t feel real, it feels like a dream. It’s still shock to be honest.
“It was amazing to see everybody turning around to watch me walking down the aisle and seeing all our friends and family cheering and clapping.
“The highlight was seeing Michael waiting for me at the end of the aisle with my son, it was really emotional and everyone in the room shed a tear.
“For us it means everything, we have got a little boy and it’s important that we all have the same name, especially for me so it’s great to feel like a proper family unit now.
“We’re husband and wife now and it’s nice for us to do something to celebrate how long we have been together as a happy young family.”
Emily and Michael will be jetting off to New York City in April to celebrate their honeymoon, courtesy of THG Holidays, and will be putting the money they had saved for a wedding towards a house deposit.
Emily said: “We would never in our wildest dreams have thought we would be able to have the wedding we have got. We’re so grateful because so many people put themselves in debt for a wedding.
“I could never express in words how grateful we are to all the people and businesses who have contributed to our wedding out of the goodness of their hearts.
“The Village Hotel were fantastic, the food was great, the band were great and the flowers were gorgeous. I would like to say a big thank you to all the suppliers and the Echo for putting this together. It’s a dream come true for us and it wouldn’t have been possible without any of them.”
Sally Krouma, marketing manager for the Echo, who helped put the prize together said: “A huge congratulations to Emily and Michael on their marriage, they thoroughly deserved to win the wedding of their dreams.
“On behalf of everyone at the South Wales Echo I’d like to extend a big thank you to all of the brilliant suppliers who made the day extra special, none of this would have been possible without each and every one of you.”