BRIDPORT: It was an awkward moment for Eleanor Spalding when she won a wedding at Symondsbury Tithe Barn – because she didn’t even have a fiancé.

Eleanor Spalding, who was seeing a man called Lewis Peake, was visiting her mum in Bridport in October when she won a free wedding at the Symondsbury Estate tithe barn.

She said: “When I found out I had won the prize I was completely stunned and overwhelmed by it. The honest truth is my first thought was: ‘How on earth do I tell Lewis? We’re not even engaged.’

“But I feel incredibly lucky as he proposed not long after I found out this news.

“I couldn’t wait to tell Lewis we had won this amazing prize.

“We had fantasised about a barn wedding in the countryside and he was blown away with the news.

“Symondsbury is near to where my mum lives so it seems the perfect venue for us. It never would have been viable for us to have such a wedding if it wasn’t for this wonderful prize.”

Julia Butcher from Symondsbury Estate said they knew who the winner was since October but had to keep silent.

She said: “Although we have known for quite some time who the winner is we had to keep it quiet as the bride to be – Eleanor – that had won was still waiting for her other half Lewis to pop the question.

“We waited with bated breath as they were about to go on a month’s holiday to Australia where she was hoping he would be popping the question.

“Lewis proposed to Eleanor on Stockton Beach in Newcastle, New South Wales.

“They were sitting looking at a shipwreck through binoculars and when she turned around to speak to him he had a sparkly ring in his hand.

“Their photo was taken moments after.”

The lucky couple won a midweek wedding in the tithe barn at Manor Yard in Symondsbury along with some other prizes.

The Shed Hair & Beauty Boutique will be doing Eleanor’s Hair and Make-Up for her big day, Timeless Pictures is providing a four-hour wedding photo package, Alison Davies is giving a bridal bouquet and a chocolate trio fountain from Tiger Lily Occasions.