A bride-to-be and her future husband found the perfect way to honour the way they met on their wedding day - by putting on their running shoes just hours before saying I do.
Ceridwen Boon, 42, and now husband Richard Appleford, 44, met through running, and Richard popped the big question in January last year after running a marathon in London. They wanted to incorporate that joint love of running into their big day.
Ceridwen put on running shoes under her white dress, with Richard dressed in a top hat and tuxedo-style t-shirt and they both did laps of Yysangharad War Memorial Park in Pontypridd alongside fellow members of Ponty's Park run.
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Ceridwen said: "We knew we had to do a run on our wedding day as we got to know each other through running, he proposed to me after a run, and most of our free time is spent either running or looking for events to run. It really was the best way to start the day off. It was fun and special and really was one of the highlights of the day."
Ceridwen was joined on the run by her dad Richard Boon before he then walked her down the aisle at the Manor Parc Country Hotel in Thornhill. She said: "We got married at 3pm in the afternoon after a crazy rush for me to get back and shower so I could have my hair and makeup done. We just had the most incredible of days with family and friends in a beautiful venue with wonderful staff there to make the day even more memorable.
"We're still on cloud nine trying to take it all in. Everyone says your wedding day goes so fast so even though we were running 5km, we actually found the parkrun part of the day one of the most relaxing and gave us a good opportunity to see people and catch up. I was so touched when my father also turned up to run it. My father is an incredible runner and seeing him run always made me want to give it a go too.
"I really was thrilled when he came and he kindly even ran a loop with us before deciding to leave us for dust as he later alluded to in his speech. How many people are lucky enough to get to run with their dads and then have them walk them down the aisle?"
The wedding comes after the couple started dating in March 2020 after meeting at a running group called Caerphilly Runners. Cerdiwen said: "In January 2022 he proposed next to the River Thames on a very chilly morning after I'd run a half marathon and he'd run a marathon. He even managed to get down on one knee which I will forever be impressed by that."
The newlyweds thanked Pontypridd Parkrun director Karl Johnson for his help on the big day - and event donations were given to Salem Chapel Foodbank. You can get news about Pontypridd sent directly to your inbox, by signing up to our newsletter here.
Ceridwen added: "Doing parkrun on our wedding day was the absolute best way to start the day and made it incredibly special. People are all really nice to you when you're dressed as a bride. We're not superstitious so it was fantastic to be able to see Richard on the morning and be able to relax and just have fun doing something we love.
"We're planning a Scandinavian cruise later in the year but we're having a minimoon in Portland this weekend where we'll be running about 28 miles of the Jurassic Coast on Friday and then doing Weymouth parkrun on the Saturday."
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