Christmas came very early for one Manc couple who chose a festive theme for their wedding this year.
Despite the 30C heat, Tania Taylor and Adam Carter were determined to make their big day as Christmassy as possible – perhaps without the snow.
The celebrations, which took place in France in July, included four real Christmas trees and crackers as wedding favours. The music was also festive themed, with Tania walking up and down the aisle to a mix of Christmas classics.
READ MORE: Met Office update on whether snow will fall in Greater Manchester this Christmas
Tania, 37, a clinical hypnotherapist, and Adam, 43, a station manager, met online in 2011. Since their first date in Piccadilly Gardens, Adam has adopted Tania’s two children from her previous marriage – Callum, 18, and Chloe, 19.
The couple have always loved celebrating the festive period as a family. When Tania had depression as a teenager, she said the countdown to Christmas helped her through the darker months.
“I went through many years of being quite depressed," she said. "I found the darker months of the year the most difficult.
“Looking forward to things and having things in the diary really helped, like having things to talk about, celebrate and count down to. I never really realised that I’d started doing it but then over time, it just got easier.”
Adam’s parents, Trevor and Sue Carter, have lived in Lot in south west France for the past 12 years. And Tania says she knew she wanted her wedding there, featuring Christmas trees, despite the hot weather.
“Christmas is something that as a family I have always had a lot of focus and good times with," she said. "So it kind of made sense to include Christmas somehow in our day.”
When the pair secured a date for April 6, 2021, Tania suggested to Adam incorporating their love of Christmas. “He laughed and rolled his eyes at me and said, ‘as long as you’re happy, I’m happy,’" said Tania.
Adam's green-fingered mum Sue sourced real Christmas trees and cared for them from December 2020, expecting to use them for Adam and Tania’s wedding in April 2021. Tania said: “Our day was postponed to July 2022 and in December 2021 one of the trees even became my parent-in-laws' Christmas tree indoors.
“She wasn’t expecting to have to see them through the hottest summer on record with temperatures in France soaring to more than 40C. If the sun touched the trees they immediately began to brown and lose their pines, so they had to be kept in the shade until our ceremony.”
The couple also had puzzles around their wedding arch because of Adam’s love of games. And the flower girls used petals as confetti from the tree Tania planted in memory of her late stepmum, Laura, who passed away five years ago.
On the big day, Adam and Tania were wed in the local mayor’s office, with her two children and Adam’s parents being the only guests. They all then headed to Adam’s parents’ huge garden with a pool to celebrate and walk down the aisle for all the guests to see.
“The music started and I noticed it was a song from Love Actually which made me smile," she said. “I met Adam at the Christmas trees and my dad took his seat.
“Adam and I walked back up the aisle together to I’m Dreaming Of A White Christmas. And once we stood under our wedding arch with banana leaves from the garden shading us from the hot sunshine, Adam’s dad and the band burst into All I Want For Christmas Is You which is my favourite Christmas song of all time.
“It was a wonderful surprise by my husband and the band and it is a day that summed our personalities up perfectly. Of course, I then just had to sing and dance as the guests sang and laughed along with us."
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