‘This Morning’ played host to a very special occasion on Wednesday (20 April), as a couple married live on air.
Viewers saw the chosen pair, Annie Cain and Gareth Lewis, tie the knot in an emotional ceremony aboard a boat on the River Thames, after they were selected as part of the ‘This Morning Throws A Wedding’ competition last year.
The couple decided to enter after Annie was diagnosed with an aggressive form of breast cancer, and she was forced to abandon her original wedding plans to receive treatment.
And a year to the day since she underwent surgery, Annie finally got her dream as she walked down the aisle on the ITV daytime show.
Their special day saw the coming together of months of planning from the ‘This Morning’ team.
Fashion guru Gok Wan had designed Annie’s wedding dress, celebrity makeup artist Bryony Blake made sure she was looking her best on the big day, Phil Vickery had prepared the wedding menu options, while former ‘Strictly Come Dancing’ star Alison Hammond taught the couple a few moves for their first dance.
The wedding itself saw a tearful Annie arrive at the floating wedding venue - HQS Wellington, a large ship opposite the ‘This Morning’ studios in London - and walked down the aisle by son Freddie.
As hosts Holly Willoughby and Phillip Schofield watched on from the studio, Rylan Clark-Neal was on board the ship to oversee proceedings.
Following the ceremony, Holly and Phillip joined the wedding guests and surprised the happy couple with a honeymoon to Provence, France before revealing that Peter Andre was on hand to perform for the newlyweds’ first dance.
Speaking about the ceremony, the bride Annie said: “It was amazing. Just it’s like a dream still isn’t it? It was beautiful, thank you.
“It’s a year today that I had the operation so it’s really surreal and special.”
Of the moment he saw Annie walking down the aisle, Gareth said: “[It was] a struggle. I was going to go emotionally and then the music went and I was going to bawl it. I don’t know how I kept it together.”
‘This Morning’ airs weekdays at 10.30am on ITV.
