'I could write a book on marrying a princess': Fareham couple get their happily ever after

Victoria and Steven Hampton-Bull were married at the Holiday Inn, at Fareham, on September 24 alongside 48 of their friends and family.

‘We did think about getting married in a church, but we loved the idea of the Holiday Inn because it was so easy and close,’ says Victoria, 34.

‘It meant that our guests could be in the same place all day and night, no one had to worry about the travel, everyone got to drink and have a good time,’ she adds.

Having written their own vows, the ‘emotional’ pair were both feeling the nerves before the ceremony.

‘As soon as I saw Steve when I stepped into the room to walk down the aisle, my nerves just disappeared,’ Victoria says. ‘It was just about him I almost forgot about other people, I just wanted to get to him and start that new chapter.’

Steve, 61, adds: ‘You can’t describe what’s going through your mind at the time, whilst I was standing there I was thinking her hair looks amazing, she’s wearing a lovely veil and you suddenly realise you’re being spoken to!

But as his final act before finalising his nuptials, an impromptu proposal from the groom left him - and others - reaching for the tissues.

‘I really surprised myself, I didn’t cry hysterically throughout our vows - but [Steve] did!

‘At the end of my vows, I’d planned to propose. It was all going well until I went down on one knee and the ‘will you marry me’ came out about 40 octaves higher than I’d ever experienced before in my life,’ laughs Steve.

The following hours whizzed by for the pair who - after many a wedding fayre - didn’t cut corners when it came to their special day, with performances from magician Dominic Reyes, music from a local harpist, drinks, canapé’s and a photobooth at the reception.

‘By the end of the day I definitely felt more than qualified to write a book on how to marry a princess, that’s for certain,’ adds Steve.

‘It just went too fast, before you know it you got your feet up drinking a cocktail in Benidorm,’ he laughs.

Steve, who grew up in Gosport, and Victoria, in Fareham, met in passing through mutual friends, years before their first date.

‘From then we spent every single day together, we put the deposit down on our first home four months later and moved in together seven months later,’ says Victoria.

After a ‘magical’ engagement in Krakow, Poland, during a surprise birthday trip set up by Steven, the pair have been planning their happy ending for the past two years.

While the long-term couple have been together for eight and a half years, they agree the union brought them ‘home’ to each other, as well as their surnames which they chose to combine.

Victoria says: ‘I loved being a Hampton, I did say to Steve if it was important for him I’d drop it, but he said let’s just go double-barrelled! He’s genuinely the most beautiful person I’ve ever met in my life.’

‘It’s an unconditional love that I’ve never ever experienced, there’s no doubt that the person I married is the right person,’ Steve adds. ‘To quote Victoria’s vows, home is not a building it’s a person.’