BBC
A couple who got married after meeting on the TV show Blind Date have renewed their wedding vows.
Alex and Sue Tatham, from Pelsall, Walsall, became the first couple to tie the knot after meeting on the classic dating programme in 1988.
The pair have celebrated their 33rd wedding anniversary and renewed their vows at the village’s St Michael & All Angels Church on Sunday – where they wed on 19 October 1991.
Blind Date, hosted by the late Cilla Black, ran on ITV between 1985 and 2003. The presenter and her husband Bobby attended the wedding.
ITV/Rex Features
Mrs Tatham said she went on the programme after a friend first applied on her behalf.
She and her husband were sent for a first date in Ireland where she said they “got on straight away and “laughed a lot”.
“We just went for it, we were chaperoned around and had a very lovely time,” she said.
Mr Tatham added: “They took very good care of us. The joy of Blind Date is you get to see [each] other again because you’re forced to watch that bit on the sofa a week later.
“It was absolutely the show of the moment,” he said.
“I guess it would be like applying to be on Who Wants To Be A Millionaire or Love Island.”
The church where the couple got married has celebrated its 180th anniversary this weekend, with a wedding fayre and service of celebrations.
It was “totally coincidental” the anniversary happened to fall on the pair’s wedding anniversary, Mr Tatham said.
“It’s been offering fantastic marriages for 180 years,” he said.
“Pelsall is a wonderful community and you can really feel the energy of the whole village as it comes out to support that church. I think it’s wonderful.”
