(29th September 2002)
Issue 734, 8th October 2002
Unlike many modern couples who marry in hideaway castles and country house hotels, Letitia and Jason chose Letitia's local parish church, All Saints, just 500 yards from their front door in central London. And while the couple invited about a dozen of her close friends from EastEnders cast, it was a day when bridesmaids, old friends and aunties and uncles were all to share equal billing.
"It was important to us both to have a church wedding," says Letitia, who plays Sharon Watts in the BBC1 show. "We both attend church and we both believe in marriage. We wanted a simple and traditional ceremony so we deliberately chose traditional music and readings. We had told the vicar that I was considering walking into church to the EastEnders theme tune, but that was just a joke. Can you imagine? It would have been very funny and no doubt it would have had the whole place in stitches, but we thought it might not be the best way to start our wedding!"
Instead, it was tears of emotion, not laughter, that greeted the bride as she walked in on the arm of her father at 3:50pm to the strain of Purcell's Trumpet Tune, movingly played by a lone trumpeter. Letitia looked radiant in an ivory duchesse satin gown, decorated in tiny crystals and generous floor-length train, her blonde hair piled high into the three tier viel and crystal tiara. She carried a simple teardrop bouquet with Grand Prix velvet red roses, hypericum berries and a foliage of leather leaf and eucalyptus.
Behind her walked her eight bridesmaids, former EastEnders actrress Susan Tully, who joined the series at the same time as Letitia whn they were both teenagers, and the bride's old friend Amanda Sarosi wore full-length halterneck dresses in champagne silk crepe with matched bead-trimmed stoles. They were joined by six young flower gils, all aged four and five, dressed in buttermilk silk dupion ballerina length dresses with sashes and carrying wicker baskets of Grand Prix velvet red roses, hypericum berries and leather leaf.
In an amusing break from tradition, 34 year old Letitia was also accompanied in the bridal procession by two "best boys" - her older brother, actor Stephen Dean, and casting director, Gary Davy. "I'm greedy." she joked. "I decided I needed as much help as I could on the day and their sole job was to look after the bride. Although I'm used to millions of people watching me on the TV, I felt quite anxious before I walked into church. I'm not in character on my wedding day so it was a quite daunting prospect, so I thought their presence might help calm my nerves. And Letitia's nerves certainly needed calming when the wedding party realised that the ceremony was to take place on the same day as the "Stop The War" march in London and that the route came within 100 yards yards of the church. Numerous roads had been closed off to allow the hundreds of thousands of demonstraters and there were worries that the guests might be delayed. Sadly, June Brown, who plays EastEnders Dot Branning was caught in a traffic jam for three and a half hours and was unable to make it to the church on time to perform one of the readings. But the mood was lightened by Father Alan Moses, who had the congregation in hoots of laughter when he told them not to worry; the helicopter that had been hovering over the church just minutes before the ceremony began was part of the "Stop The War" march, rather than an attempt to stop the wedding.
The ceremony proved to be as moving as it was traditional. The congregation listened with rapt attention as the choir's voices echoed around the 140 year old church and many of the guests had to wipe tears from their eyes as the bride and groom signed the register to Leonard Bernstein's "On Hand, One Heart" from "West Side Story".
After their vows and exchanging of rings - a simple platinum band for Jason and a band of diamonds for Letitia, the newlywed couple left the church to loud applause and cheers. Anita Dobson, who played Letitia's screen mum, Angie Watts, said: "This is something she's always wanted and it meant so much to me to be here today. I don't have any children of my own, so I've kind of adopted Letitia. In fact, as she walked up the aisle on her father's arm, she leaned across and whispered, "Hello Mum." It was a lovely moment."
Outside the church, guests climbed aboard three red double decker buses for the mile-long journey to the wedding reception. They included EastEnders' Wendy Richard (Pauline Fowler) Barbara Windsor (Peggy Mitchell) Lucy Benjamin (Lisa Fowler) Steve McFadden (Phil Mitchell) Todd Carty (Mark Fowler) Adam Woodyatt (Ian Beale) June Brown (Dot Branning) Hannah Waterman (Laura Beale) Pam St Clement (Pat Evans) Ricky Groves (Garry Hobbs) Laila Morse (Mo Harris) and Isobel Middleton (Sadie Banks). They were joined by Letitia's former co-stars Anita Dobson, Gillian Taylforth and Anna Wing (Lou Beale).
Other celebrities included Queer As Folk star Antony Cotton, and Jean Fergusson of Last Of The Summer Wine.
Unfortunately, the "Stop The War" march was still not over and the buses were caught in massive traffic jams. Rather than be late for the reception, Barbara Windsor and husband Scott Mitchell gamely led people off the buses and through the streets of London, past bemused demonstraters, so of whom did a double take at the sight. But if the guests thought that the old-fashioned Londonbuses signalled a good old East End knees-up, they couldn't have been more mistaken. As soon as they were served champagne on their arrival at the London Arts Club, it was clear that syle and sophistication were the order of the day.
For more than a century, the club has been at the heart of the capital's cultural life. It was a seconbg home for Dickens and its memebers have included Rodin and Liszt, while Degas, monet and Pissarro were frequent visitors. Jason's father, Rond, who sadly died in February 2000, was a member for 35 years and Jason has happy memories of visiting as a child.
The guests dined on a selection of main course canap�s, including mini Yorkshire puddings filled with salt beef and horseradish relish. tempura king prawns with chilli sauce, mini Cumberland sausage toad-in-the-holes and roasted Mediterranean vegetable crostini. The couple decided against a sit-down meal to keep the atmosphere less formal. "I can't bear it when people say "Right, you're sitting over there next to so-and-so, and you end up next to an old bore for three hours!" Letitia laughed. "We wanted our friends to be free to mingle and chat to who they wanted."
Following the meal, the 180 guests were led into the Garden Room for the speeches. The room was beautifully lit with tiny little fairy lights and tea lights, with the tables romantically covered in deep-red rose petals. Letitia's father, Leslie had everyone in gales of laughter when he said that he had been told that the duties of the bride's father were simply to: "Eat up, sup up, stand up, speak up, shut up and pay up."
Next it was the turn of the 35 year old groom. Looking dashing in a black frock coat, with a champagne-hued cravat and matching waistcoat, Jason movingly told how the couple chose September 28 because, had his father been alive, it would have been his parent's 49th wedding anniversary. "In the family, my parents' love spilled over and I knew I must seek the same," he said. "When I met Letitia, I knew my search was at an end."
After a witty speech from Jason's best man and brother Warrick, Letitia and Jason opened the dancing to Frank Sinatra's "For Once In My Life", with the other guests soon enthusiastically joining them on the dancefloor. At 10pm, with the party still going strong, guests were served with bacon ciabbata sandwiches to keep any hunger at bay. Said Barbara Windsor: "Letitia had told me that she planned to keep the day very simple, so when I saw this fantastic church and she walked in wearing that stunning dress I couldn't believe it. It was a fabulous wedding."
The couple organised the entire day themselves, which ensured that everything went to plan, but at times it did prove exhausting - particularly for Letitia who was busy filming EastEnders. The couple managed to fit in hen and stag weekends - Jason flew to France for a golfing holiday with ten friends while Letitia visited a health farm - but her current storylines meant that she was unable to take time off until two weeks before the wedding.
Like many of the arrangements, Letitia's gown was a last-minute choice. She originally planned to have a dress created by a friend who works as a costume designer on the show but she ran out of time.. Luckily, after visiting several shops, she found the perfect gown in a small boutique near her home close to Oxford Street. "As soon as I tried it on I felt comfortable." Letitia told us, "I asked for a few modifications - the crystals were my idea - but otherwise it was perfect."
Exhausted by the emotions of the day, the couple left the reception at midnight to spend the night in a Central London hotel. The next morning, they set off for a surprise two-week honeymoon to the Far East. Jason didn't tell Letitia the destination, other than to inform her which innocukations she would need. The honeymoon will prove the perfect oppurtunity to unwind after a hetic past year. The couple met in June 2001 and became engaged just two months later.
Letitia said "People always said that when you find the right person you just know. I've always pooh-poohed that, but trhat's what happened. It was a weird sense of belonging. I felt as I'd come home."
The couple met by chance through mutual friends in a bar and the attraction was instant. "We knew there was something straightaway and after a few drinks, we went out for dinner as a group," explains Letitia. "It was quite funny because Jason asked me what I did for a living. He didn't recognise me because he didn't watch EastEnders, and hadn't seen me on screen since the mid Eighties when I was looking my finest with permed hair! Meanwhile, I'd misheard when we were introduced and ended up calling him Dave all night. But we clicked right away and I said to him if he called me by 10am the following morning, I'd know his intentions were honourable."
Jason dutifully rang and the couple met for dinner that night. They have subsequently seen each other every day since, apart from their respective hen and stag weekends.
Letitia says: "I knew I was in love after about a week. By the time you reach your thirties, you know what you want and you know if you've met the right person. We've both had relationships before but neither of us have ever come close to marrying. This felt different. Jason is very calming and very patient. He's extremely kind, and we have a lot of fun together, and I feel very safe and very loved."
Letitia can recall every detail of the proposal. "We were sitting on the sofa one night and I was wearing his pyjamas and no make up when he said "How would you feel about getting married?" and I said "Yes, I'd love to." and then I made him get down on one knee just to make sure! I remember shaking like a leaf with excitement."
Jason, who runs a media consultancy, then insisted on driving to Lincoln to meet Letitia's parents and formally ask for her hand. "It was important to us both to do it properly. I've never met anyone like Letitia before. She has a childlike enthusiasm for life; she's kind, honest, beautiful, and everyone who meets her warms to her." The couple moved in together after five months and Jason has been a huge support in helping Letitia with the pressures of her working life. When she arrives home from work, he usually cooks dinner while Letitia learns her lines for the next day. Sometimes he helps her with them. "I've played many parts - Peggy, Dot, Pauline, Phil... you name them, I've done them!"
"He's terrific," Letitia says. "Sometimes it's easy to take your work home with you, so Jason says to me that I have ten minutes to talk about my day and then that's it. It's great, because you need to talk about it if you've had a bad day but you don't want to go on about it all night. You need a cut-off."
Jason has also slotted effortlessly into Letitia's showbusiness life. His mother was an actress and singer while his father was a musician. "Letitia's showbusiness life never made a difference because it was her I was interested in, not who she was," he says "She's quite a private person anyway and doesn't go out to many showbusiness dos.
Most of the time we're real home birds. We love going around antique shops, or for jaunts in the country or having friends round for dinner."
Letitia started in EastEnders when she was just 16. "The advert said that only genuine Cockneys need apply but I came from Buckinghamshire and had never been near the East End in my life! So I lied through my teeth and told them I'd stayed with my aunt for a few years in the East End. It was a year before I felt brave enough to come clean!" she says.
She stayed with the show for 11 years before leaving to try out other projects, starring in "The Hello Girls" & "Lucy Sullivan is Getting Married" on TV, as well as appearing in various theatre productions. But she was tempted back to the show in March 2001 after a six year absence. "I'd been away and done a few other things and when the phone call came, I felt ready to go back for a bit. I've been there such a long time that EastEnders is quite a fundamental part of my life."
Now that Jason is a fundamental part of her life too, Letitia is excitedly making plans for the future. The couple plan eventually to buy a property abroad or in the country and hope to start a family in a couple of years' time.
"Getting married felt absolutely right," says Letitia. "And if we are luckily enough to have children one day it will be the icing on the cake
