Leamington first date leads to palindrome wedding

December 12 was also the 38th birthday of the groom.

Emma and Estevao Vonzo were not to know that after first meeting while out clubbing in Leamington that they would still be together.

Romance blossomed after they shared a moon-lit kiss by the Pump Room Gardens bandstand, like many others.

Emma said: “He was from another country and 12 years later we have a family. It’s fate. I think it was meant to be.”

Now Emma, aged 34, and Portuguese-born Estevao, 38, have two children, Dominic, 10, and Sophie, aged seven, and the family live in Buckley Road, Lillington.

But it was no down-on-one- knee proposal by Estevao – more of a “joint decision”.

Emma, a former care worker and hairdresser, said: “We thought it was about time after 12 years.

“We’ve grown older together. We just want to settle down and the children are growing older. Getting married is more stable for the children and ourselves.”

The couple decided on a quiet wedding at Wareick Register Office and then back to their home for a reception for close friends and family.

“We didn’t want anything over the top – we wanted it simple and intimate,” whose maiden name is Bainbridge and went to North Leamington School.

And the two witnesses were Anglo-Potuguese couple Filipe Gonsalves and Joanne Owen, of Leamington, who have two children and have been partners for nine years.

Emma is all in favour of couple’s living together before they get married.

She said: “If you have just met and marry I think you are more likely to split up. It’s better to live together and get to know each other.”

Estevao, who is known to his wife as Steve, was well known on the Leamington club scene as the DJ Spider.

The couple are now teatotal and Emma said: “The days of clubbing are gone – we’ll leave that to the children.”