WATCH: Showstopping flashmob belt out Les Miserables tunes to surprise bride on her wedding day

A groom made sure his bride had a dramatic wedding that she would remember forever.
Dave and Helen Harkness with wedding guests  Picture: Sue RourkeDave and Helen Harkness with wedding guests  Picture: Sue Rourke
Dave and Helen Harkness with wedding guests Picture: Sue Rourke

Dave Harkness arranged a singing flashmob especially for his wife, Helen, at their wedding with an audience of 150 wedding guests.

Both of the pair enjoy amateur dramatics with Dave belonging to South Downe Musical Society and Helen belonging to the Portsmouth Players for a combined total of 50 years with many a starring role for each.

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However, the rival societies were brought together by Dave for a special performance of their favourite song from their favourite West End musical, One Day More from Les Miserables.

Dave and Helen Harkness with wedding guests  Picture: Sue RourkeDave and Helen Harkness with wedding guests  Picture: Sue Rourke
Dave and Helen Harkness with wedding guests Picture: Sue Rourke

Dave, 45, said: ‘I wanted to bring the companies together and Les Miserables is one of our favourites. The wedding was beautiful and it was the absolute best day ever, I feel emotional talking about it now and the fact that both societies came together was just awesome.’

The wedding reception took place at Cams Hill Pub in Fareham on Saturday.

The business travel consultant added: ‘We had a sweet cart provided by a member of the Portsmouth Players, someone else did the bouquet and the owner of Cams Mill also used to be part of South Downe Musical Society.’

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Victoria Midgley, 31, owner of Cams Mills said: ‘It is the first time we have hired out the whole pub for a wedding and it was a great success and the video of the surprise flash mob has had a lot of views on social media. We have been getting lots of customers saying it looked amazing.’

Dave and Helen Harkness with wedding guests  Picture: Sue RourkeDave and Helen Harkness with wedding guests  Picture: Sue Rourke
Dave and Helen Harkness with wedding guests Picture: Sue Rourke

The video of the singing flashmob was put on social media by close friend of the couple, Lauren Kempton who was responsible for helping Dave to organise the special surprise and had a lead role in the performance.

Lauren said: ‘They both belong to musical societies so there was already a lot of talent going to the wedding. We had a closed Facebook group to arrange rehearsals and some other guests also were told so they could learn the harmonies.

The video has now been viewed over 50,000 times.

She added: ‘Everyone managed to keep it a surprise and on the day Helen absolutely loved it and was really shocked. For their first dance myself and another guest performed the song which she also did not know about.’

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Dave and Helen’s first dance was to I See the Light from Disney film Tangled.

Two West End actors, Jack Edwards and Stuart Matthew Price, both from Portsmouth also performed a duet at the reception.

Helen Harkness, the unsuspecting bride, said: ‘It was absolutely the most magical day of my life and it was everything I could have wanted in a wedding and I wasn’t expecting anything like that.

‘We got married on July 1 because it is my mother and father’s golden wedding anniversary and that made it a really special day for me. ‘

Helen’s mother passed away a year ago.

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A boarding school house mistress at St Catherine’s School in Bramley, Helen added: ‘My close friend did a poem about Les Miserables as my husband was also an extra in the film with Russell Crowe and Anne Hathaway but she didn’t know about the flash mob.’

The pair met more than five years ago while performing in the Hot Mikado. Helen said: ‘My family gave Dave and I an amazing wedding gift - a framed picture of the inside of the Kings Theatre, as this is where our relationship blossomed.’

For their honeymoon, the lovebirds are flying to Sorrento.

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