Mum goes to best friend’s vow renewal… only to find out it’s her OWN secret wedding to partner of 17 years

A MUM was left gobsmacked when she turned up to her best friend’s vow renewal – only to discover the event was actually her OWN secret wedding.

Lesley Reid, 35, burst into tears when she realised her partner of 17 years, Chris Morgan, 53, had pulled off such a huge surprise.

The couple, who live in St Leonards, East Sussex, and met in 2000, have been engaged for years – but Chris had always said he wasn’t “the marrying type”.

Kennel maid Lesley, who’s originally from Dundee, was convinced she was the maid of honour for hairdresser pal Tina Stewart’s vow renewals.

She even thought cabbie Chris might be having an affair – after he changed his phone password to protect his plan.

He swore their 50 guests, some of whom had travelled down from Lesley’s native Scotland, to secrecy and even their son Bailey Morgan, 13, was kept in the dark.

He was told he was Tina and husband Michael’s page boy, but he was actually his dad’s best man.

The cunning groom even got his bride into a wedding dress, by telling her she had to be “twins” with Tina – who turned up to the ceremony in normal clothes.

Despite being driven to the venue in a plush Rolls Royce, the penny only dropped for Lesley, who’s asked Chris about their wedding “hundreds of times”, when she arrived at the venue – just minutes before tying the knot.

Romantic Chris said: “Some people plan their wedding for years. There was no way I would have been able to keep the secret for that long.

“When I saw her for the first time in her dress, just minutes before we got married, she burst into tears. I have to admit I went too and I was a wreck for 30 seconds.

“It’s only four words – ‘will you marry me’ – but it was bloody difficult to get them out.

“Eventually I managed and her response was ‘of course I will’. I knew she would say yes.”

Lesley said: “I have been having my suspicions over the past few months but every time I thought something was fishy, another thing would happen to throw me off the scent.

“It wasn’t until I walked into the venue, saw my friend Tina in a normal dress and Chris standing there that I realised it was my day.

“There is footage of me just bursting into tears as I realised. I had none of the stress of something going wrong. For me, it was great.”

Lesley said she “wouldn’t have changed a single thing” about the big day.

She added: “It goes to show that he also knows everything about me.”

The couple said their vows on July 7 and will do the legal paperwork next month.

In more wedding news, these bridesmaids revealed how they almost ruined the bride’s big day with their outrageous antics.

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