BRIDE-TO-BE Gemma Peters has double the reason for celebrating next April.

Gemma, along with future husband Jamie Richardson, won the Courier’s Win-a-Wedding competition and the happy couple will tie the knot at Dunbar’s Dunmuir Hotel next year.

Gemma said: “We have spoken to the Dunmuir Hotel and the date for the wedding is April 20.

“We started going out on April 21 eight years ago and so we are going to wake up to nine years together as Mr and Mrs.”

The couple, of Ash Grove in Dunbar, got engaged on Guy Fawkes Night in 2011 but have never had the chance to get married.

She said: “We had not really got started planning anything yet.

“We have been engaged for so long and obviously we wanted to get married but never got talking about the plans and never had the money to do it.

“I had been to the Dunmuir Hotel before and it is lovely.

“I had been there before for a wedding and it is stunning.

“I saw the competition in the Courier and I thought ‘we should enter it and see what happens’.

“I did not expect to win it, though, I’m never someone that wins anything. I did not expect to be that lucky person – it is such an amazing prize.”

After spotting the competition, 26-year-old Gemma and Jamie, 28, put up an appeal on Facebook asking for friends and family to pick up vouchers to vote for them.

Friends and family duly did their bit to ensure they defeated the 11 other couples in the running to win the prestigious prize, worth almost £6,000.

Gemma and Jamie, who have a six-year-old daughter Taylor – Gemma is also mum to nine-year-old Brooke – thanked everyone that had voted for them.

Gemma added: “We are just so thankful; I am totally overwhelmed.

“Even at the Dunmuir I kept saying thank you I don’t know how many times.”

Philip Mellor from the Dunmuir Hotel said: “We were absolutely delighted to finally meet Gemma and Jamie, our winners of the competition.

“We look forward to sharing their journey making their wedding day very special and one they can treasure for years to come. The Dunmuir is the only hotel in Dunbar with a function space that accommodates weddings and events and we are so proud to help a local couple’s dream come true.”

The lucky couple will receive:

l Master of ceremony;

l Use of Goldenstone’s Suite for the ceremony;

l Pipe Major David Laird’s services on the day, worth £250;

l Buck’s Fizz and canapes for drinks reception;

l Glass of sparkling wine for cake cutting and speeches;

l Personalised table plan and menus;

l Three-course set meal including glass of wine;

l Tea or coffee with homemade tablet;

l Complimentary shortbread favours;

l Evening buffet of four items for up to 100 guests;

l Honeymoon suite for bride and groom;

l White chair covers and silver-coloured sash;

l Full Scottish champagne breakfast for their first morning as Mr and Mrs;

l Special accommodation rates for guests;

l Top-table arrangement, courtesy of Meg’s Flowers, worth £100;

l Bridal bouquet, one bridesmaid’s bouquet and two buttonholes, courtesy of Meg’s Flowers, worth £100;

l Complimentary accommodation with breakfast for both the bride and groom’s parents;

l Three-tier wedding cake, courtesy of Bell’s Bakery, Dunbar, worth £175;

l Photographer – GWS Grahame Smith Core Package, worth £750;

l Kilt for groom from Gordon Nicolson Kiltmakers, worth £175;

l Disco from David Currie of Ecosse Entertainments, worth £450.