Wigan bridemaids wear Latics strip after an 11th hour wedding costume emergency

Zoe Baxter and Neil Harrison had to think outside the box to save their already rearranged wedding from a fresh calamity.

For with just weeks to go before their marriage at the DW Stadium, the couple were facing a costume crisis.

Despite having ordered their seven royal blue bridesmaid dresses back in February for a ceremony originally planned for July and then moved to September, there was still no sign of their arriving, even though they had been on a “priority list” from the outset.

The frocks were being made in Vietnam and 38-year-old Zoe had received an increasingly worrying series of messages from abroad saying that their manufacture and shipping had been delayed again and again due to Covid.

With only a couple of weeks left before the nuptials and still no guarantee of the dresses’ arrival, Zoe and 41-year-old Marsh Green HGV driver Neil decided on a wacky Plan B.

Auxiliary nurse Zoe, who comes from Hindley, said: “We were at our wits’ end. It was like ‘oh my God what are we going to do?’

“Neil then said ‘we may as well put them in Latics kits.’ I said ‘your’e joking’ and he said ‘go for it’ and so did my mum when we told her.

“It was an odd idea but they were meant to be in Wigan colours anyway and there was no way we were going to be able to get all the bridesmaids measured up in all their different shapes and sizes in traditional dresses in time for the ceremony.

“This seemed like the best way of saving the day and not having to postpone for a second time.”

And so the club was contacted and not only did they offer the couple a discount, they also personalised each of the kits free of charge.

Each of the bridesmaids was happy to wear the unusual ceremonial costumes (with the only concession being white trainers rather than boots with studs), including two who were Wigan Warriors fans.

And so the ceremony in the stadium’s Carling Suite went without a hitch as 80 guests looked on.

Zoe said: “It was a nice touch in the end. It cost a bomb but it was worth it. I was just glad to have all my bridesmaids besides me in the end.”

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