by Maxine GordonROMANTIC Neil Wilson turned an oriental holiday into a trip to remember when he asked his girlfriend Susan to Thai the knot in a surprise wedding.

Luckily, Susan accepted, and weeks of secret planning paid off when the York couple wed in a Buddhist temple on the island of Phuket, Thailand.

A band of Thai drummers led the couple to the temple.

Susan wore a traditional red and gold dress and Neil donned a white Thai suit.

They lit candles and incense and sat cross-legged and bewildered before 11 monks during the 90-minute service which was conducted in Thai.

In the evening, some friends on the island held a party on the beach for them.

Yesterday, the couple exchanged wedding vows again, this time in English, when they got married at the Northallerton Register Office.

Compared to the oriental event, it was a low-key affair, rounded off with a meal at a local Thai restaurant and a night out in the pub.

Neil, 31, a printer, said: "I wanted it to be as low-key as possible because what happened in Thailand will always be my wedding day."

Susan, 35, who looks after six-month-old Bruce, and George, four, at the couple's home in Oulston, near York, said yesterday's ceremony was important because it meant her family could attend.

But she admits to being bowled over by Neil's surprise. He proposed to her on stage in a Phuket club two days before the wedding, which he had arranged with the help of Susan's sister Dorra and her husband Banjob, who is from Thailand.

Susan said: "It was gobsmacking. But it was just like him. He took me to New York as a surprise - and Canada. "He is a horror at surprises, but I am getting used to it."

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