Couple get married on train from London Paddington

Leah Anderson, 38, and Vince Smith, 39, first met onboard a Great Western Railway (GWR) service from Wokingham to Reading in 2016.

The pair had arranged to travel to and from their first date together and even shared their first kiss on the return journey home.

On March 8, 2024, the couple tied the knot onboard a service from London Paddington to Swansea,  while it soared through the countryside at 125mph.

The couple met on a train. (Image: SWNS)

Meet the train-obsessed couple that got married on a train

Leah, a GP assistant, from Farncombe, Surrey, said: "We were going to hold a small gathering with our family but I wanted to be creative and I thought about contacting companies that had things to do with our first date.

"So I contacted GWR and they offered to host the wedding. We were so taken aback by it.

"It was great and totally unexpected.

"We had to get officially married before the train ceremony but every other aspect we've done on the train.

"It felt like when they pronounced us husband and wife it was real on the train."

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Vince, a care assistant, added: "The train felt like the perfect place to have the ceremony."

Discussing their first date, the couple shared that they had initially planned to only go for a drink when they met up but Leah says they spent hours together.

She said: "On our date, we went for a coffee and then a pizza, and we just got on really, really well.

“On the way back, Vince was getting off at Wokingham. He went to leave and then he ran back and kissed me.

“I knew from that first date we had something special.”

Leah and Vince were married on March 8. (Image: SWNS)

The bride added that trains had always been a big part of her life, as her dad worked as a signalman for more than 50 years.

Hoping to pay tribute to their love of trains, the happy couple got in touch with GWR to ask for a train-related centrepiece for their top table.

But the GWR team decided to take things a step further and invited the couple to say 'I do' onboard.

Sharing details of the wedding, Leah walked down the aisle and was given away by her dad and six-year-old son, Teddy.

She and Vince then said their vows and exchanged rings in a ceremony conducted by a railway chaplain.

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As Leah shared: "Myself, my dad and my two eldest children were actually in one of the cars and then my kids and my dad went through and I walked through afterwards into the first class carriage where all the guests were and Vince was there waiting for me.

"It felt so surreal.

"They even did us a wedding cake with a model of a GWR train made out of icing on there as well."

Amanda Burns, GWR Sales and Marketing Director said: “When we heard of Leah and Vince’s story, we asked ourselves what more we could do to help them as they embark on this very special journey together.

“Rail and rail travel is often romanticised; offering a gateway to new adventures, so what better way to embrace this than by actually holding their wedding on board? It tickets all the right boxes.”