From the local newspaper
Many “hold-ups”
“Gee, what a way to go and get married,” commented a guest at one of the strangest receptions ever held in this country. It took place in the spacious Peper Harow Park, near Godalming, on Wednesday morning. The happy couple, Private Lloyd Trottier, Canadian Army, and Private Christine Weed, of the C.W.H.C., both members of the Canadian army show ‘Rhythm Rodeo’, had decided that at their wedding should be as spectacular as the show. They tried to arrange for the ceremony to be performed in the Big Top with everyone, bride, groom, chaplain and guests, on horseback. Unfortunately, the laws of the country said otherwise. When Lloyd applied for a marriage licence the Guildford registrar, Mr George W Catt, said that the marriage would not be legal unless it was held in a registered building which, he contended, the tent was not.
Undaunted, the couple decided that the ceremony should take place in the Register Office and that afterwards they would hold a wedding march, on horses, and the open-air reception at Peper Harow.
The time fixed for the ceremony at Guildford was 11:00am on Wednesday. The bride was driven up in a decorated station wagon and was attended by her friend Private Joyce Evoy, C.W.A.C. The best man was Lance-Corporal Jack Monoogian.
After the ceremony the happy couple were driven back to Peper Harow Mansion, formerly the home of Lord Midleton, where they changed into their ‘western’ outfits. Outside on the large lawn guests, some 40-odd ‘cowboys’ and as many attractive C.W.A.C.s, waited until the bride and her groom made an appearance riding their horses. The guests, all on horses, formed up at the rear at as the C.W.A.C.s sang and whistled the Wedding March as the procession rode down the full length of the lawn.
The producer of Rhythm Rodeo, Lieutenant-Colonel Rai Purdy, with the rodeo director, Lieutenant-Colonel Kit Carson, congratulated Private and Mrs Trottier on behalf of the company, and at that moment an old covered wagon, drawn by four horses, came into view. It stopped in front of the couple and a large iced cake was produced from the interior. On top of the cake, which the bride cut with a German dress sword captured on the Continent, was a silver horseshoe. The guests came by on their horses to receive a piece of cake and wish the happy couple good luck. Later, Private and Mrs Trottier left for a honeymoon in Guildford.
The bridegroom told an Aldershot News reporter that they did not want to ‘show off’ but wanted their wedding to be as spectacular as the show.
The Guildford registrar told the Aldershot News, “I’ve certainly had some strange experiences, but I think this beats them all. They wanted me to marry them while mounted on a horse and I’m quite sure I wouldn’t have known which side to mount the animal.”