They say all you need is love – but for a wedding party some good old pie and mash helped.
Almost 21 years since the day they met, Laura and Jim Groom, of Hedgemans Road, Dagenham, held a wedding reception with a twist – at Roy’s Pie and Mash in Hornchurch.
The couple wed at Langton’s register office, Hornchurch, with bride Laura dressed in red for Valentine’s and Jim in a traditional suit.
The 46 guests tucked into their traditional cockney grub followed by apple pie.
Best man Michael Nicholls was among those who gave speeches in the specially-decorated eatery before the rest of the reception at the Cross Keys Pub in Crown Street, Dagenham.
Laura, 44, said: “We couldn’t really afford the sort of prices restaurants charge so we weren’t sure what we were going to do.”
After joking to a friend that van driver Jim, 45, would like pie and mash for his wedding meal, she looked into the possibility.
Laura, a teaching assistant at William Ford Junior School in Dagenham, said: “Everyone thought it was a great idea. Everybody likes pie and mash, I don’t really know anyone who doesn’t – especially men.
“Being together so long, we didn’t want a traditional wedding and it just seemed like a fun thing to do.”
The couple, who have two children – 16-year-old Sonny and 13-year-old Nancy – met at a Valentine’s night in a club.
Laura said: “We kept putting off getting married but eventually we just decided to go for it.”
Friend Lesley Staines said: “It was a proper East End wedding. When people first got their invitations, they thought it was a bit of a wind-up. But they’re all East Enders and so they thought it was a fun thing to do.”
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