A Robin Hood-themed wedding for Leamington couple on BBC show

Marrying Mum and Dad presenters Ed and Naomi with Bob and Nikki Smith and twins Brody and Dylan.Marrying Mum and Dad presenters Ed and Naomi with Bob and Nikki Smith and twins Brody and Dylan.
Marrying Mum and Dad presenters Ed and Naomi with Bob and Nikki Smith and twins Brody and Dylan.
Twins from Leamington are now merry men after they successfully organised a Robin Hood-themed wedding for their mother and step father as part of a BBC children’s television show.

Nikki Olorenshaw had no idea what her 13-year-old sons Brody and Dylan had in store for her and her partner Bob Smith after the family had successfully applied to be on Marrying Mum and Dad.

In the two months from when the family were accepted for the show up to the wedding day on February 21, the twins were tasked with picking the theme, transport, cake, venue and food for the big day - which took guests back to the time of the legendary medieval outlaw.

Nikki said: “They did brilliantly.

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“They had the production crew to assist them but they thought it all up and they weren’t nervous about it at all.

“Probably the most difficult thing for them was keeping what they had planned for us a secret.”

Nikki and Bob met through friends about eight years ago and had recently got engaged with the plan being to get married in July.

But, having watched the programme with the boys over the years and talked about applying they finally decided to fill out the form last year.

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After an interview process which included video chat on Skype with the show’s production team and being filmed for three hours the family received the news in December that they had been accepted for the show.

The wedding took place in the Cotswolds including the tranquil Matara Centre.

Nikki and Bob stayed in a hotel the night before and on the morning of the wedding they were dressed with blindfolds on before their outfits were revealed.

Bob was to go as Robin Hood while Nikki was his love interest Maid Marian.

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Brody and Dylan were dressed as Robin’s Merry Men while the shows presenters Naomi and Ed were dressed as Friar Tuck and the villainous Sheriff of Nottingham respectively.

The 45 guests also dressed in authentic attire.

Part of the show involves the bride and groom facing their fears and in this case the twins organised a giant reverse bungee ball to fire the couple up into the sky before Bob had to reach into a tank of snakes to retrieve the wedding rings while having a 10ft Burmese python on his shoulders so he could overcome his phobia of the reptiles.

The boys had told the film crew: “We want Bob to conquer his fear to prove his loyalty and love to our mother.”

After the ceremony and food the couple then fired arrows from longbows, the boys had made themselves, into ‘exploding’ wedding cakes.

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Nikki said: “We had seen the programme a few times before and we knew to expect the unexpected.

“We were really up for it and delighted that the boys were doing it for us.

“We were nervous but it turned out just perfect - it was a one-of-a-kind event and we’re proud of the boys because they did an amazing job.”

To watch Nikki and Bob’s wedding or any of the other weddings on the show search for Marrying Mum and Dad on the BBC iPlayer website.

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