One Spam-azing day!

My man’s a Spam superfan – and we’re keeping it in the family!

Yes, that really is my name – Anne ‘I Love Spam’ Benson. And I live up to it! But it hasn’t always been that way…

It started when I got together with Mark in 2009. We used to drink in the same pub, but lost touch.

But on New Year’s Eve that year, I got a friend request.

Remember me? he messaged. He was looking up old friends on the Internet.

We got chatting and there was instant chemistry.

Before long, he’d asked me out. And it was on our dinner date that he first mentioned the pink stuff…

‘I wish there was a restaurant that did Spam!’ he laughed.

‘You mean the canned meat?’ I asked. ‘I’ve never had it.’

Mark was gobsmacked – he loved the stuff!

From then on, he started cooking me Spam dinners.

Mark’s grandad Thomas and uncle Daniel used to work at the Liverpool Spam factory.

‘I walked past it every day on my way to school,’ he told me. ‘I loved the smell.’

His delicious meals had me converted, too, and, 18 months later, we’d moved in together.

Within a year, we were engaged. I fell pregnant with Milly the year after, and Evie two years after that.

But the wedding had to take a back seat. Whenever we started trying to save, something else would come up.

In December 2014, Mark saw a competition to find Spam’s biggest fan.

‘I really want to win,’ he said. ‘So much so, I’m going to change my surname to ‘I Love Spam’ Benson.’

I laughed it off – he was such a joker. But he went ahead and adopted the name!

Sadly, he didn’t win the competition, but he kept using his silly new name.

Then, six months later, on his day off, he was watching ITV’S Loose Women. Somehow, Spam came up, so he tweeted the show, telling them about his name. And it blew up. The Press got in touch, and soon his face was everywhere. He even appeared on Loose Women! Mark wanted to take things further, so changed his name legally by deed poll. I only believed it when I saw his voting card, addressed to Mark ‘I Love Spam’ Benson.

‘It’ll be your name, too, when we get married,’ he winked.

Fat chance!

Then Mark heard about the world’s only Spam Museum. ‘We have to go,’ he insisted. It was over 4,000 miles away in Austin, Minnesota, USA!

We’d have to use the wedding fund…again.

But then I had a great idea.

Why not get married there? Spamtastic!

So, in 2015, I contacted Spam’s owners, Hormel Foods Corporation. It’d never been

Mark first mentioned the pink stuff on a dinner date

done before, but they were up for it.

So on Valentine’s Day, I took Mark to our favourite restaurant and surprised him by going down on one knee.

‘Will you marry me – in the Spam Museum?’ I said.

Bursting into tears, he said yes!

On 25 April, Mark, the girls and I flew to Austin.

When we got to the hotel, we found bags of Spam goodies waiting for us – footballs, Frisbees, hats…you name it, we had it! The ceremony at the Spam-packed museum was perfect. Mark looked dapper in tails and a bespoke Spam bow tie and matching handkerchief. I had a traditional dress, with a blueand-yellow bouquet inspired by the Spam brand colours. Milly and Evie made gorgeous little bridesmaids as we exchanged vows in the heart of the Museum. After, we all feasted on a buffet, complete with Spam doughnuts! Then we cut our Spam-influenced blue-and-yellow wedding cake. ‘This is the best day of my life!’ Mark smiled. ‘Thank you, Mrs “I Love Spam” Benson!’ But the fun wasn’t over yet. We flew off to the Spam Jam street festival in Waikiki, Hawaii, spending three days there. Apparently, Hawaiians are the world’s biggest consumers of Spam! There we came across 15 different flavours – including garlic, cheese, jalapeno, peppered Spam…

‘I didn’t think I could love Spam any more than I already did!’ Mark said. We even had to buy extra suitcases to bring all our goodies back to the UK!

Now I’m in the process of getting all my credit cards and other official documents changed to my new name.

People don’t believe me at first when I tell them my full name. They tend to either laugh or snigger, thinking I must be joking.

But I wouldn’t have it any other way…

Being Mrs ‘I Love Spam’ Benson is totally Spamazing!

People don’t believe me when I tell them my full name