TRUE romance will bloom for 14 couples on St Valentine's Day, when they tie the knot at York Register Office.

Staff at the Bootham venue are preparing for a record-breaking February 14, with 14 slots available for wedding couples.

Last year, only 10 ceremonies were carried out at the register office on February 14. But with St Valentine's Day falling on a Saturday, officials decided to stay open longer to allow more people to marry.

Staff will have a bit of a rest the day before as there are no marriage bookings on Friday, February 13.

Robert Livesey, superintendent registrar, said: "St Valentine's Day is our busiest day of the year." He said there were a couple of slots left for February 14, but was confident they would be snapped up soon. Staff are also conducting two civil ceremonies at outside venues on St Valentine's Day.

Katie Yeoman and Neil Price, of Haxby, are one of the couples with a booking at the Bootham office on February 14.

Katie, 20, said it was Neil's idea to marry on St Valentine's Day. "It was a great idea," she said. "Really sweet and romantic." And it made up for the lack of romance in his original proposal, which took place in a driveway three years ago after Katie announced she was expecting the couple's first child.

Lauren, now two, will be a bridesmaid at the wedding next month, while 11-week-old Kieren will watch from the comfort of a grandparent's arms along with 25 other guests.

Couples are coming from Slough, Wolverhampton and Lancashire as well as York, Selby and Malton to tie the knot at the register office on St Valentines' Day.

Mr Livesey said "We do special preparations for every single wedding. People can customise their weddings, the only thing that can't happen is having religious music or readings.

"Couples put a lot of input into it and each ceremony is different. I must know what my script is for each one.

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