Western Daily Press (Saturday)
Train-mad couple enjoy marriage in a railway carriage
A COUPLE who met and had their first kiss on a train got married onboard while travelling at 125mph.
Leah Anderson, 38, and Vince Smith, 39, first met onboard a Great Western Railway (GWR) service in 2016.
The pair had arranged to travel to and from their first date together and even shared their first kiss on the return journey home.
Yesterday the train-obsessed couple tied the knot onboard a Pullman dining carriage on a service from London Paddington to Swansea – while it sped through the West Country at 125mph.
Leah, a GP assistant, from Farncombe, Surrey, said: “We were going to hold a small gathering with our family but I wanted to be creative and I thought about contacting companies that had things to do with our first date.
“So I contacted GWR and they offered to host the wedding. We were so taken aback by it. It was great and totally unexpected.”
Vince, a care assistant, added: “The train felt like the perfect place to have the ceremony.”
The bride added that trains had always been a big part of her life, as her dad worked as a signalman for more than 50 years.
Hoping to pay tribute to this on their big day, the couple got in touch with GWR to ask for a train-related centrepiece for their top table.
But the team decided to take things a step further and invited the couple to say ‘I do’ onboard.
Once in the train carriage, Leah walked down the aisle and was given away by her dad and six-year-old son, Teddy. She and Vince then said their vows in a ceremony conducted by a railway chaplain.