WHEN the Pastor of the church she is getting married in suggested to the bride that he had a friend who might be interested in filming her wedding, she never dreamed who that might be.

Born and bred Kirtonians, Holly Holmes and Patrick Phillips got married this morning (June 25) at Crediton Congregational Church. Their service was filmed by BBC “Songs of Praise”.

Holly explained: “James had phoned Patrick, so I heard from Pat. I was just so shocked, and just thought how absolutely lovely it would be to share with other people and add to the celebration of the start of our marriage.”

This is their fourth attempt to get married. They had got engaged in 2017, planning to marry in 2018 but then Holly fell pregnant with their son, Fletcher.

“Then we planned twice in 2020 but Covid came along and then I found I was pregnant with Franklin. So we decided to go for this time with about eight weeks’ notice. This is our fourth attempt to get married,” said Holly.

With Holly being one of five children and Patrick one of four, they have been crossing their fingers hard that restrictions on numbers at the wedding would be eased.

Their reception is booked for The Lamb at Sandford but a honeymoon will have to wait a while.

Holly is delighted that the dress she got for that first wedding date back in 2017 still fits and, even though it was stored in their nursery, Patrick, whose birthday was earlier this month, still has not seen it. “My Mum and me went together to Exeter to get my dress in 2017, it was a really lovely afternoon,” said Holly.

Both Holly and Patrick went to school at Queen Elizabeth’s in Crediton. Holly was working at the Waie Inn at Zeal Monachorum with Patrick’s sister. “She set us up,” said Holly, “we went to the cinema with other friends and Patrick didn’t say a word to me all evening! That was 10 years ago this year.”

Holly works for Crediton Milling at Fordton, Patrick for ForFarmers at Sowton. He used to play football for Sandford. They saved hard to buy their house at Sandford five years ago.

Patrick is a handy DIY man around the house. This has included built-in wardrobes and a sewing station he made for Holly after she had given him a rough idea of what she wanted.

Holly enjoys crafts such as painting, knitting and crochet. She likes sewing trousers, shorts and rompers for their two sons and her toddler niece.

“It’s going to be a colourful wedding,” said Holly before the day. Their front room is festooned with the big tassels she has been making in lots of different colours. Their eldest son is bearing their rings at the wedding.

James Gregory, Pastor at the Congregational Church, said he had been trying to marry Patrick and Holly for three years.

He discovered that “Songs of Praise” was looking for a couple getting married coming out of lockdown, but had not found them.

“They were just about to shelve the idea, it was quite remarkable,” he said. So far as he is aware, “Songs of Praise” has never been to Crediton Congregational Church.