The EDF Energy Ice Rink at The Forum in Norwich is to host what’s believed to be the country’s first wedding blessing on ice this weekend. Delphine Boury and Nicolas Simoes will take to the ice with Rev Peter Nokes and 90 guests for their special ceremony at 3.15pm this Saturday, November 11. And Delphine’s full-length ivory wedding dress has been specially modified to allow the couple to dance their first dance on skates. 

 

This weekend’s ceremony is a fitting next chapter to a fairytale romance that started at the EDF Energy Ice Rink during a charity performance for Children in Need three years ago.

 

Delphine and Nicolas, who now live in the Bowthorpe area of Norwich, are both originally from France. However, neither had met before fate brought them together when Nicolas skated in to partner Delphine for the charity performance when celebrity Robin Cousins was forced to drop out at the last minute.

 

Their Pudsey bear routine was screened across the country. Thereafter, they met regularly for coffee and to skate together, before being taken on by Baseline Promotions, the company who run the EDF Energy Ice Rink on behalf of The Forum Trust, to work shifts on the ice rink. 

 

Friendship quickly became a romance. The couple moved in together six months after meeting and got engaged a year later when the EDF Energy Ice Rink returned to Norwich for its second year. Their daughter, Lucyle, was born in July 2005 and became a regular visitor to the ice rink when her parents were working different shifts or skating on the rink.

 

Delphine said: “When we met in 2003 on the first EDF Energy Ice Rink, I had no idea that we would get together and eventually get married on it three years later! Skating has always played an important part in both our lives and it is amazing that we met and will now get married on Norwich’s outdoor rink. “

 

The couple will be legally married in St. Peter Mancroft Church by Rev Nokes just minutes before they and 90 guests take to the ice for a service of thanksgiving.

 

Rev Nokes said: “I am delighted to have been asked by Delphine and Nicolas to officiate at their somewhat unusual wedding celebration. They will be married at St Peter Mancroft Church and then we will process through the great West doors and onto the ice rink for prayers and a blessing.

 

“They worship at St Peter’s and met through skating at the rink. I am very happy to have part of the service on ice as I think it demonstrates the importance of shared interests in marriage. I’m just grateful that they didn’t meet pot-holing or sky diving!”

 

Delphine’s ivory ballerina-style dress was bought in Paris by the 28-year-old and her mother the day after the couple flew back to France to announce the date of their wedding. The dress has been specially lifted at the front to allow her to skate safely. Her 25-year-old groom will, skates apart, also be traditionally dressed in traditional English morning suit.

 

The bride, in her final year of medical school at the UEA, will be attended by her sister Emilie Boury and her best friend Magali Harter-Chevallier, while Nicolas, assistant manager at the Stower Grange hotel and restaurant in Drayton, has childhood friend, Ilir Dzara, as his best man.

 

Forty friends and relations are travelling to Norwich from France for the wedding celebrations to join fifty new friends that Delphine and Nicolas have made since moving to England.

Guests will be treated to a guided coach tour of Norwich and the surrounding countryside in a traditional vintage English bus before arriving at St. Peter Mancroft to take part in the wedding service at 2.30pm.

 

Nicolas said: “We really love living in Norwich and wanted to give our friends and family a real flavour of Norfolk on their weekend visit for our wedding. We have really felt welcomed in Norwich; people here are very friendly. It is very different to living in Paris. We love going back there to see our family but our real home is here now.”

 

Guests will leave the ice rink at 5pm for a French wedding breakfast to be held at Norwich Ski Club, continuing with the winter wedding theme.

 

The couple’s idea to get married on the rink was discussed with Kirsty Burn, Communications Manager at The Forum Trust, in December last year. The romantic notion quickly became a reality once sponsorship for the 2006 EDF Energy Ice Rink was confirmed.

 

Kirsty said: “I have known Delphine and Nicolas since they first met, in fact, my colleague and I were instrumental in orchestrating their first meeting. I was enchanted with their lovely idea that they should get married on the ice rink this year. This is a truly romantic tale which has taken place in and around the magical winter wonderland we create here each year in front of The Forum. What better way to celebrate such a happy occasion than on the opening day of this year’s EDF Energy Ice Rink.”