Groom goes to own Hexham wedding in Newcastle United Tractor

All eyes were on Egger worker and Hexham lad Stuart Johnson, 34, on Friday, as he rode through the streets on a tractor adorned with a Newcastle United badge towards Hexham Abbey to marry his 28-year-old partner Leanne.

Leanne and their 104 guests were pleased to see the Newcastle-themed tractor as they knew how much the team meant to Stuart.

Leanne knew his passion for his team would be somehow involved in their big day.

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"I didn’t dare try to stop the idea," Leanne said.

"Stuart has always followed Newcastle from being a young boy.

"He has a season ticket with his dad and it’s the one thing they have always done together.

"Our neighbour David is also an avid Newcastle fan so when they were discussing how to get to church David just suggested it, and they ran with it.

"Stuart's arrival was something unique and spectacular. Luckily David organised the tractor as he repairs and sells tractors for work in his own business."

Leanne and Stuart first met around Christmas time 2010 when they both worked at Waitrose. A few months later they got together in July 2011. 

Nine years later Stuart decided to pop the question at Sycamore Gap on Leanne's Birthday on September 11, 2020.

When planning the wedding, the pair wanted to make their day memorable for themselves, family, and friends.

"There is a stigma around weddings all about the bride, the dress, the entrance, but I wanted to make it fun," Leanne said.

"It was initially my idea to surprise Stu with the Newcastle cake but I ended up telling him.

"From then we decided that the whole day we should incorporated Newcastle as much as possible.

"The cake was a four-tier Newcastle-themed cake with the bottom two layers being Chocolate fudge and Salted Caramel, the middle layer was Victoria sponge, and the top layer was lemon and poppy seed.

"We even had Newcastle brown ale bottles on the tables."