Tony Legg and his new wife Jane Pullinger-Legg on their wedding day. Picture: Debbie Lewis

by Angela Cole

acole@thekmgroup.co.uk

It wasn't April 1 but when a bride walked down the aisle there were plenty of guests who thought she was having them on.

In fact bride Jane, whose maiden name is Pullinger, really was marrying Tony Legg at Holy Trinity Church in Larkfield – making her Mrs Pullinger-Legg.

But it was just one of the things which stood out in the Snodland couple’s wedding... which included 27 bridesmaids, a bride’s musical speech and an impromptu singalong as the couple stepped out of the church.

Jane, 55, and Tony, 48 – who refer to each other as Parker and Lady from the popular 60s TV show Thunderbirds – met 18 months ago, and he popped the question the day after Valentine’s Day last year at Sandgate, overlooking the sea.

“When he went down on one knee and took me by the hand I thought somebody had died,” she said.

“It was only once he asked me to marry him that I realised I would be Pullinger-Legg. It is quite funny.

"I will use it for Facebook and email, it’s a really good gag, although I’ll be Mrs Legg for official things. He thinks it’s funny too.”

But Jane’s big day proved a head-turner for other reasons too.

Struggling to pick bridesmaids from her friends, she settled on two official ones – Tony’s daughter Grace, 13, and her 16-year-old neice Andrea Todd – but when she jokingly suggested to her friends that they could also be bridesmaids, provided they wore purple, the response took even her by surprise.

“It is so difficult when you have got a lot of friends to pick and choose,” she said.

“So I had two official bridesmaids and said to my friends that if they wanted to be unofficial ones and wear purple they could.

"It just ricocheted and I was just wowed when I got to the church – I had no idea there were going to be so many. I’ve been told there were 27 but I just lost count.”

The happy couple emerged from the New Hythe Lane church to the sounds of Third Finger, Left Hand by Martha Reeves and the Vandellas, which prompted a singalong.

“Everybody sang along to it,” laughed Jane, “the whole church was singing – and I was dancing.”

At their reception, held at the Hilltop hotel in Wrotham, Jane then broke with tradition and gave a speech instead of her new husband, rounding it off by singing to a Dusty Springfield tune, with her own words.

Tony’s son Charlie Legg, 20, also gave a speech, followed by Jane’s dad David Pullinger.

And the first dance was actually Jane with her dad, in memory of her late mum, Violet Pullinger, to her favourite song I Love You Because You Understand by Jim Reeves.

Jane’s sons Billy and Harry Bleach, 25 and 23, were ushers.