A YOUNG couple said it was “a dream come true” to claim the top prize in our Win Your Wedding competition last night.

Jamie Leach and fiancée Kate Harvey beat off competition from 33 other couples to get their dream wedding, worth £12,000, at Oxford Town Hall in July 2012.

Miss Harvey, 23, said: “We are always at the back of the queue for everything, and neither of us have ever won anything.

“We’ve been saving for so long for a house and a wedding, this is really the start of the rest of our lives.

“I’m shaking. I never thought we would win.”

The winning couple were announced by the Lord Mayor of Oxford, John Goddard, at a ceremony at Oxford Town Hall last night.

More than 8,000 votes by phone, text and post were cast for all the couples. Miss Harvey and Mr Leach won with 1,862.

The couple have been together for more than five-and-a-half years after meeting on a night out in Oxford.

Mr Leach, 26, said: “It’s a funny story really, we got to know each other while talking at a kebab van at the end of a night out.”

They became engaged in February after a romantic proposal in a horse-drawn carriage in a snowy Central Park in New York.

Mr Leach, an electrician, lives in Long Hanborough with his parents, and Miss Harvey, a visual merchandiser, lives with her family in Botley.

Miss Harvey said: “We could never have dreamed of this, it really is a dream come true. We both have the best family and friends in the world. Hopefully this time next year, we will have a place of our own and can really start our lives together.”

Every detail of the wedding will now be paid for, from chaffeur-driven cars and flowers to the wedding dress.

They will spend the first night as a married couple at the Malmaison Hotel in Oxford and then enjoy return flights from Oxford Airport to Majorca.

The couple were entered into the competition by Miss Harvey’s sister Sophie.

She wrote that her sister’s eyes had been “set alight with sparkles” since she got engaged.

She said: “And I hope that sparkle never fades, as it truly makes everyone into a true romantic.”

The couple said they owed everything to her and would have to spend a long time saying thank you.

The competition runners-up did not leave empty-handed. Each of the nine finalist couples received a romantic hamper and vouchers from the sponsors.

Natalie Evans, with her partner Mark Johnson, said: “We’re a bit disappointed, but we’re just chuffed to have got to the final. We will definitely still be getting married, hopefully next year.”