St Albans couple sharing wedding day with Will and Kate

A COUPLE from St Albans discovered this week that they will be sharing their wedding day with Prince William and Kate Middleton.

Clarence House announced on Tuesday that the future King and Queen had chosen to tie the knot at Westminster Abbey on Friday, April 29 – the same date that Stephen Salvatore and Rebecca Snarey from Charrington Place had already booked for their big day.

But far from feeling like the Royal couple have stolen their thunder, Stephen and Rebecca couldn’t be happier about the news.

Rebecca said: “We are quite happy about it to be honest, because it’s on a Friday it meant that there were potentially some guests that wouldn’t be able to make it but now it’s a bank holiday they will all have the day off.

“But we are hoping that we will be the centre of attention at our day rather than the Royal couple.”

The happy couple met through the London Scuba Diving Club and have been together for two years.

Stephen, who is a trainee London Ambulance paramedic, proposed to Rebecca earlier this year on the Millennium Bridge in London after a romantic dinner and stroll along the Thames. They selected the date of April 29 because they didn’t want a long engagement and thought that it was a good day as it would be followed by the May bank holiday weekend – but now the date is set to be one of the most important in Royal history.

When London and the rest of the world comes to a standstill to watch William and Kate’s wedding next year, Rebecca and Stephen, both aged 24, will be enjoying a somewhat simpler day at an eco-friendly farm location on the Cambridgeshire and Hertfordshire border with around 80 guests during the day and a total of 100 in the evening.

And while the future princess is likely to be walking down the aisle in a priceless tiara encrusted with diamonds, Rebecca, who has been studying for a PhD and is about to start a new job as a medical sales representative, has started making her own.

In fact, the creative bride-to-be, who has been making jewellery for a number of years, will be hand-crafting most of her other wedding-related items including cake toppers and invitations as she has recently started her own wedding business.

She said: “When I started looking around, I found that the quality of the wedding jewellery and a number of other things out there wasn’t that good and I knew that I could make better, so I started up my own little sideline business.”

To find out more about Rebecca’s bespoke wedding jewellery and accessory making business visit www.charrington-weddings.co.uk

n Are you getting hitched on April 29 next year? Do you have any other local Royal wedding news? If so, contact the Herts Advertiser news team on 01727 865165 or email hertsad@archant.co.uk