A COUPLE from Buckinghamshire won the ‘prize of a lifetime’ worth thousands of pounds.  

Chesham couple Alex Pearson and Amy Smith were left stunned after they won a wedding package worth more than £5,000 catering them and their loved ones at the historic River Thames location in Bisham.  

Alex Pearson, 40, runs a digital marketing agency based in Buckinghamshire, and Amy Smith, 36, is a Registered Nurse.

The pair have known each other for almost 20 years, but they have been a couple since 2018.

They have four children together, with the latest baby Leo born just eight months ago.

Amy says she couldn’t believe they had won when she received the call telling they had won the package as part of the Bisham Abbey Win a Wedding Competition.

Bucks Free Press: The lucky couple with one of their four childrenThe lucky couple with one of their four children (Image: Diane Frazer Photography)

She said: “We couldn’t believe it. You enter competitions, but you never really think you’re going to win, so this was such amazing news for me and Alex. He proposed to me last August on Pentewan beach in Cornwall.

“It was so romantic and a perfect day.

“We were thinking at that point our wedding would be way off in the future, so we’d already started slowly saving up for our big day. But with the cost-of-living crisis and the arrival of our latest child Leo, our actual wedding looked at least a couple of years away at best. Now, with this win, we can start really planning. We’re currently looking at an autumn date, as that’s my favourite season, but will discuss that with Melissa and the team.”

The gift includes a three-course wedding breakfast for up to 50 guests, use of the Bisham Abbey’s Great Hall, and a stay in the Honeymoon Suite.

Bisham Abbey dates back to the 13th century when it belonged to the Knights Templars.

It was an Augustinian Prior, and it became a Benedictine abbey in 1537.

After the abbey was dissolved, the estate was given to Sir Philip Hoby in 1553, Historic England said.

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Each of their children will be have a part in the wedding ceremony, because the couple wanted the wedding to be a “true celebration of our family,” Amy said.

“I’m hoping Leo will be walking by then, so he can be a Page Boy. Lyra, who’s two, will be a Flower Girl, while our older two, Jake, 16 and Oliver, 12 will have a bit more responsibility on the day, helping out as Ushers.

“It’s going to be wonderful, seeing them all together, dressed up and looking smart. I already feel so proud of them and we haven’t even got a date fixed yet,” she added.