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Flying start for married couple

by Pete Bainbridge
1/10/2008

SWEETHEARTS Paul Humphreys, 21, and Amy Allwright, 20, tied the knot at a wedding which went off with quite a bang – a Chitty Chitty Bang Bang to be precise.

The couple, who live on Charlecote Road, Poynton, and are now studying at Loughbrough University, wanted their big day to be something to remember.

Paul knew that Amy had been a fanatic of the classic 1968 Dick Van Dyke film, so secretly organised for the car, a hired copy of the real thing, to descend on the village and drive her to and from the church.

He said: "Amy’s seen Chitty Chitty Bang Bang hundreds of times, and it’s her favourite film. I booked the car, and wanted it to be a surprise on the day, but decided to tell her beforehand. I didn’t want to risk leaving it until just before the wedding, because I thought she might have got too excited and cried!"

The newlyweds, who met at a parish weekend when Paul was 16 and Amy was 14, got married at a "packed to the rafters" St George’s Church, on London Road South, with 300 friends and family members. "When Chitty turned up at Amy’s it was great. I’ve got some brilliant friends in Poynton and they really helped me get everything ready in time."

But Chitty wasn’t the only film to feature in the proceedings. Paul, being quite the romantic, used a scene from another cinema classic as a theme when he proposed.

He said: "Another of Amy’s favourite films is Pride and Prejudice, which was filmed at Chatsworth House. I knew she’d never been there, so we went in April last year. There’s a scene down by the lake which Amy loves, with the house in the background. We went down to that spot; I asked her to turn to look at something, and when she looked back, I was down on one knee."

The happy couple wanted to give special thanks to Catt and Dave, Amy’s sister and brother-in-law, her parents Anne and Steve, her nephew Oliver, and Paul’s parents Ray and Margaret.