Dream wedding for Doris (From Wilts and Gloucestershire Standard)

Dream wedding for Doris

WHEN Doris Collett married the man of her dreams in 1962 the couple only had £15 to spend on the whole wedding.

The photographs of the happy day never came out and for a honeymoon the couple, who now live in Watermoor, stayed with grandparents.

Forty-three years on husband Rodney decided to do it properly and treat his wife to her dream wedding at Holy Trinity Church in Cirencester.

Doris, 60, thought she was going to a baby naming ceremony but her children had secretly planned a surprise fairytale wedding.

Daughter Shelley said: "I came up with the idea of giving her the wedding she always dreamed of - but as a surprise.

"We took her shopping and got a lovely dress for her to wear - she kept saying it was too posh, so I said that these ceremonies always were.

"She asked what she had to buy as a present and I said all you do is put money in an envelope so I could hand it back to her after."

Doris was walked to the church with Rodney, who then proposed with the ring she had always wanted.

Shelley added: "My brother put dad's buttonhole on and walked in with him as best man and my sister presented mum with a bouquet.

"Everyone was in tears, including the photographer, as she was walked down the aisle by her dad to the wedding march."

There was a proper photographer, a Mercedes to whisk Doris away to the reception and a beautiful birthday cake.

The couple then stayed at a county hotel, something they had never done before and all a far cry from the registry office wedding of 43 years ago.

Doris said: "When Rodney proposed I was absolutely lost for words, for a change.

"It was supposed to be a child naming ceremony and I thought I was a bit dressed up for it, but when I got to the door it was such a surprise.

"The children kept the secret really well even though they were helping Shelley organise the whole thing.

"It was a really, really lovely day - very different to the first time when it was snowing and we had the reception at Rodney's house."

This time they had their reception at The Bee's Knees and stayed the night at a hotel in Birdlip.