FOR teenage sweethearts Laura Wilkinson and Matt Hemming, coming out top in the Oxford Mail’s Win Your Wedding competition is a “dream come true”.

The young parents, from Ascott-under-Wychwood, are celebrating after winning an exclusive wedding package worth £14,000 at Eynsham Hall, North Leigh.

Miss Wilkinson, 23, and Mr Hemming, 25, got engaged two years ago after he proposed with a ring in the wrapping of a chocolate egg on Easter Sunday.

They tried to save for a wedding but because of financial pressures and then the birth of little Albie in June last year, their big day had not yet materialised.

Nursery nurse Miss Wilkinson said: “You save a bit and then you have to get something else. We didn’t just want a register office, we wanted something a bit more special.

“We were hoping it would be 2014 and Albie came along last year. We knew it wasn’t as realistic with a baby on the way.”

She added: “It was a massive shock to win the competition. It is a dream come true.

“Thank you to everyone who has helped us to achieve this.”

The prize means they will be able to get married in the next year and Albie can be a page boy.

Mr Hemming, an IT support analyst, said: “It is absolutely amazing. It still doesn’t seem real. Just trying to save up for everything has been hard.

“Now the planning starts – it is definitely happening now.

“We are no longer trying to save up for a wedding now, we can save for Albie.”

The couple got together nearly seven years ago as teenagers while working at the Co-op in Milton-under-Wychwood.

They are both former Burford School pupils, but being in different years, did not meet until they worked together.

Thousands of votes were cast for the competition’s 10 finalists in the Win Your Wedding competition.

Miss Wilkinson and Mr Hemming’s wedding package includes a breakfast for 80 guests and an evening reception for 120.

They enlisted friends and family to help them win the prize.

Mr Hemming said: “The family rallied round. It was a case of buying lots of papers and we started a Facebook campaign.”

Miss Wilkinson added: “We put up posters in the local shop asking people to bring in coupons. It still hasn’t sunk in.”