Tara Peel and Philip Marson met seven years ago at a Bradford Bulls match, and fell instantly in love.

She was just 17, he 20. They always dreamed of getting married, and saved diligently for their big day.

But their dream became a victim of the recession, and when redundancy hit the couple their wedding fund became emergency cash… leaving their hopes of tying the knot in tatters.

Not any more.

Because Tara and Philip are the winners of our Win a Wedding competition, and thanks to our partners the Holiday Inn Leeds-Bradford and a host of local suppliers, they’ll be getting married in style with a fantastic wedding worth more than £5,000.

Tara, now 24 and a teacher, and Philip, 27, of Odsal were nominated by the groom-to-be’s sister, Pauline Marson, and the story of how the couple’s wedding fund became their rainy day fund as the recession hit when they got engaged in 2009 won the hearts of our readers, who voted for them to receive the fabulous prize.

They described themselves as “like kids in a sweet shop” when we broke the news to them that they’d scooped the top prize.

Miss Peel said the children at Woodhouse Primary School were all “really excited” to hear the news she had won the wedding prize.

The couple hope to get married over Easter next year.

Philip said: “I wanted it more than anything because me and Tara had wanted to get married for ages.

“We didn’t have the funds between us at all. We were going to wait until we had saved more money but we had already been waiting two years.

“We are really ecstatic. I can’t put it into words. Neither of us can stop talking about it, we’re like kids in a sweet shop.”

  • Read the full story Friday’s T&A