Win a Wedding competition: The finalists

Now it’s over to you to select the couple who will win a £9,000 wedding.

See below for details of how to vote.

What they win

Playgolf – free hire of room for the day and three course wedding breakfast for 50 guests.

Colchester Cakery – wedding cake up to £300

Abigails Collection – any wedding dress worth up to £1,000

Groom’s Room – menswear hire for three gents

Wedding Toastmaster

Alter Ego – bride’s hair on wedding day and trial worth £500

Premier DJ – bronze disco package with lights and music

D&A Photography – photo session worth £1,000 

The finalists

Nicola and Sam

NICOLA O’Shea and Sam Nundy say winning the competition will make their family complete.

The couple, who met during a night out at Fibbers Bar, in Clacton, nine years ago, have three children, Ethan, eight, Olivia, four, and Joseph, two. 

Nicola, 29, is a stay- at-home mum and Sam, 32, works as a legal representative for people in police stations.

They made the tough decision to put their dream wedding on hold to save to buy a family home.

Nicola said: “It would mean everything. It would make all our dreams and wishes come true. The
children keep saying I’m the odd one out without their name.

“It would just make our family complete.” 

The family are living with Sam’s grandmother in Clacton at the moment to save to buy a house.

Nicola said: “We put getting married on hold, so we could buy the house and have something secure for our children.”

To vote for Nicola and Sam dial 0901151 and add 0295.

Rhonda and James

RHONDA Dalgeish and James Clarke dated for a year and a half as teenagers, but split up when life got in the way.

However, they had a second chance of love in their late thirties when they bumped into each other by chance at the Purple Dog, in Colchester, three years ago.

After their meeting Rhonda got a call from James’s sister, who said he had not stopped talking about her all week and arranged for the pair to go for a drink.

Rhonda said: “Our family and friends are over the moon we are back together.

“It is our second chance.”

James, who makes and sells kitchens, proposed to Rhonda at the table of her birthday meal in July. But the couple, who are both 40, cannot afford to get married.

Rhonda said: “The chances of us being able to get married are pretty slim.

“We both work full time but life just takes the money.

“We are just normal hardworking people whowant the chance to get married.”

To vote for Rhonda and James add 0296.

Christina and Ross

ROSS Williams, 34, wants to win the competition so he can give his fiancee the wedding she deserves.

He met Christina Severina, 30, at Leisure World gym when she left him a note on his van after spotting him across the fitness room.

The couple, who live in East Hill, Colchester, have been together four years.

Ross proposed on Valentine’s Day when the couple were in Venice for Christina’s 30th birthday.

He said: “Christina has had a tough life and she deserves to have a special day.

“If we don’t win this I don’t know if I would be able to give her as special day.

“This would mean everything to us. We are still going to get married, but we wouldn’t be able to afford that kind of day.”

Christina works on the factory floor at Wilkin & Sons in Tiptree and Ross is a gas and heating engineer.

To vote for Ross and Christina dial 0901151 and add 0297.

Samantha and Darren

DARREN Renshaw and Samantha Still hope the competition will mean they can finally tie the knot after a seven year engagement.

The couple, from Colchester, met on Valentine’s Day and have been together since.

Darren, 34, proposed on a beach in Spain seven years ago, just after the birth of their son Travis.

Samantha, 43, said: “We talked about the wedding in the beginning, but when you have a family time goes by and we just didn’t do it.

“Financially the children come first.”

Darren, works as a project manager for a roofing company and Samantha is an NVQ assessor.

The couple have another child, Miller, one, and Darren has a son, Jack, from a previous relationship.

Samantha said: “We’re just amazed to have got this far in the competition.

“It would be amazing if we won. It would finish off our family. It would be a dream come true. Everyone deserves it, but we’ve been engaged a long time and this would be amazing for our whole family.”

To vote for Darren and Samantha dial 0901151 and add 0298.

Claire and Stephen

AN amateur strong man competitor and his fiancee are hoping the competition will give them the chance to have their dream wedding.

Claire Skinner, 29, and Stephen McMillan, 28, met at a party five years ago when Stephen was visiting from Scotland.

After that they spoke online until he made the decision to move to Essex to be with her.

They have a son , Lenny, who is 18 months, and Claire has three children from a previous marriage, Danny, 11, Kiera, nine, and Sonny, eight, who all live with the couple in Great Oakley.

Stephen, who works as a carpet fitter, proposed two months ago by coming downstairs and telling stayat- home mum Claire to change her Facebook status, before giving her a ring.

She said: “It was just so him.

“I was a bit gobsmacked but I was so happy – and then I had a go at him for the way he had proposed.

“It would be lovely to have this beautiful day. It would be the icing on our cake.

“I never win anything, but I thought I might as well have a go. I didn’t think we would get this far.”

To vote for Claire and Stephen dial 0901151 and add 0299.

Jane and Darren

JANE Rice and Darren Hawes spent their wedding savings on IVF when they were told they could not have another child naturally.

After Darren, 31, proposed on a beach in Minorca eight years ago the couple started saving for their big day.

They had their daughter, Ellie, and were trying for another child when they were given the heartbreaking news they would not be able to conceive naturally.

The couple, who live in Longridge, Colchester, had to make the difficult decision between their wedding and IVF.

They decided to have the treatment and two years ago had daughter, Jessica-Raye.

Jane, 36, who works as a manager in a call centre, said: “It is one of the best decisions we’ve ever made.

“It was completely mutual.

There was no doubt in our minds.”

They hope the competition will give them the chance to have the wedding day they had dreamed of. Jane said: “We never thought in a million years we would get to the last eight.

“It is completely overwhelming.”

To vote Jane and Darren dial 0901151 and add 0302.

Emma and Alistair

EMMA Walton turned down the chance to have an engagement ring because she knew she would need to save every penny for her big day.

She met her electrician fiance Alistair Stewart, 31, ten-and-a-half years ago when he came into the Co-op, in West Bergholt, where she works and asked where the bacon was, even though it was right next to him.

She admitted she thought he was nice to a colleague, who said he was a friend of his brother’s and set them up.

The couple, who live in Shrub End, want to start a family, but decided they would like to get married first.

Emma, 28, decided against a ring as they needed to save as much as possible. She said: “Every time we get a bit of money together something goes wrong like my car or his van breaking down.

“It was just going to be a small affair at a register office. If we win we will be able to have the big wedding every girl dreams of.”

To vote for Emma and Alistair dial 0901151 and add 0301.

Hannah and David

HANNAH Wiffen and David Snelling are desperate to get married before they have children.

The couple, who live in Shrub End, met at what is now the Slug and Lettuce, in Colchester, nine years ago.

Since then, they have bought and renovated a house and got engaged, and they hope to have children soon.

But they have traditional values and want to get married first and hope the competition will allow them to do that.

Beauty manager Hannah, 29, did not tell David, 30, who works as a tiler and builder, she had entered the competition.

She said: “We both work super hard. I couldn’t believe it when we got through. We were both ecstatic and absolutely thrilled.

“The reaction from our family and friends has been amazing. I think everybody will be thrilled to see us get married.”

The couple, who were both born and grew up in Colchester, got engaged in front on Aphrodite’s Rock, in Cyrus, four years ago.

To vote for Hannah and David dial 0901151 and add 0300.

How to vote

BY PHONE: Call 0901151 adding the four digits of your choice.

BY TEXT: Send your text to 80360 starting with BRIDE leave a space, followed by the four digits of your choice.

Calls cost no more than 51p Per Call from a BT Landline. Calls from mobiles and some other networks may cost more. Texts cost 50p plus your normal operator text charge. Telephone and text voting lines close on 01/10/2014 at 23:59:59PM. For full terms visit www.newsquest.co.uk/terms Service Provided by Newsquest Media Group. Call 0207 998 0549 for help and advice on phone and mobile services.