ARDENT Blackburn Rovers fans Shelley Fallon and Ian Slater kicked off married life at their favourite football club.

The couple, of Park Road, Darwen, were the first pair to marry at the Ewood Park Stadium since the club got its licence for marriages.

And the venue proved to be a premier setting with the couple holding the ceremony in the Centenary Suite followed by a wedding breakfast and disco for guests at the club.

Their unusual choice of venue came only months after Japanese fan Takeshi Yamamoto and his wife Kayo travelled half way around the world to receive a wedding blessing at the ground.

Carmel Dillon, conference and banqueting events manager at the club, said: "Both Shelley and Ian are big Rovers fans and they thought it would be a great idea to marry at the club.

"We had another couple after Shelley and Ian who came along with guests in Rovers shirts!"

She added: "A lot of people don't want a formal wedding ceremony or a register office wedding. They see getting married at a football ground as a bit different.

"And although it is a football stadium there is still room to hold your wedding reception at the club."

Shelley and Ian, who will feature in the first official club programme in the new season, are honeymooning in Dublin.

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