It started with a tiny ad in the Evening Press. But today, 15 months later, love-struck Steve Burn and Janine MacKenzie began their first full day of married life together.

Steve Burn and Janine Mackenzie after their wedding at the Stakis Hotel, York. Picture: Mike Tipping

It was the "perfect day" as the couple tied the knot in style at York's Stakis Hotel yesterday.

After exchanging vows before almost 100 guests, Steve and Janine declared themselves the happiest people in the world - and said it was thanks to the Evening Press.

Their romance began when insurance expert Steve, 27, placed an ad in the paper in December 1997.

Psychiatric nurse Janine, 38, said it was love at first sight when she met Steve on their first date. "We never had a moment's doubt in our minds. We hit it off straight away and I think we both knew there was something special between us," she said.

At yesterday's service, Perfect Day by the BBC Children In Need team was played along with a wide range of other music, from live bagpipes and barber-shop singers to a serenade by the Mapanje family - who are friends of the couple - singing in Chechewa.

Steve and Janine, of Dorrington, Pocklington, both read moving poems to one another before exchanging rings.

Steve said: "We have had such a happy day. A lot of people see finding love through the small ads as a last resort. But it worked for us."

Converted for the new archive on 30 June 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.