In the words of Lou Reed – “such a perfect day” for John and Jan

And their first dance to Lou Reed’s Perfect Day, performed by musician Les Glover, summed up their special day on Saturday, May 7 wonderfully.

Here is John and Jan’s wedding story, in their own words.

Where did you meet?

John: We met each other while working at Mosslands in 2008. I was a chef and Jan was a carer.

Jan always had a feeling she'd met me before - like she'd always known me - while I felt instantly like I had a best friend - who was very pretty!

How did you get engaged?

John: We got engaged in Hebden Bridge. There was no planning really but we were on a day out, Jan fancied a ring in a jeweller's window. Seeing it was reasonably priced, I offered to buy it for her. It fitted and the jeweller said “congratulations!” That's the first we both knew we were engaged but it felt right.

What was your wedding day like?

Jan: Our wedding day started at the Pyramid, for the ceremony and drinks, followed by a coach and car convoy to the Bronte old school rooms for afternoon tea.

We went to Haworth on our first date, so we took all our friends there as it felt like the right place to go.

Charlotte Bronte had her wedding with afternoon tea in the very same room.

Who came to your wedding?

Jan: We had more than a hundred guest, including family, friends, work colleagues and our old neighbours who had travelled from Cyprus.

John and Jan at the ceremony at The Pyramid Photo credit: Lloyd Jones Photography (Image: Lloyd Jones Photography)

How did the speeches go?

I was a little nervous doing my speech but with help from my brother’s slide show and Les Glover the musician, we tried to make it a little different. Jan thought it was entertaining.

How did you feel on your wedding day?

Jan: I was surprisingly relaxed and happy on the day and there were no real nerves.

John: I had looked forward to that day for 14 years!

Who provided the entertainment for your reception?

John: Les Glover added to our day wonderfully.

He sang Perfect Day towards the end of our wedding day and it summed it up perfectly.

What was your first dance?

Jan: We'd had a little practice with Jane, John's sister-in-law, who is a dance teacher, and the first dance went as well as we could have expected. We danced to Mick Hucknall’s version of You Make Me Feel Brand New.

What did you wear?

Jan: I wore a beautiful full-length ivory dress with a lace bodice and jacket and John wore a blue blazer with a checked waistcoat and grey trousers.

The perfect day Photo credit Lloyd Jones Photography

Was there anything unusual about your wedding day?
John: We had heart-shaped confetti made from old copies of the Warrington Guardian. We’ve worked for Newsquest and Guardian Series Newspapers for more than twenty years, getting up at 2.30am each Thursday morning. I have been an area distributor and Jan has delivered the papers. We wanted the Warrington Guardian to be part of our day!

Where did you go on honeymoon?

Jan: We enjoyed our honeymoon to Paris before our wedding as we had to rearrange the wedding several times due to Covid but kept the honeymoon in the diary as it was a present from our family.

We are calling that our pre-moon. We are visiting family in June in Memphis and Florida – it’s been quite a year!

Do you have a special message for your new husband / wife?

John: I love Jan as she is not only my best friend but she's gorgeous. Several years ago she nursed me through a serious illness with such love and care. I could never repay her for what she did.

Jan: I love John as he totally gets me and we share the same values. John makes me laugh every single day and I actually quite like my surname!

To have your own wedding feature in our album, email heidi.summerfield@newsquest.co.uk for a Q&A form.