A MOTOR-mad bride fulfilled her childhood dream when she went to church riding her dad's stock car racer.

Tanya Mercer, 24, has dreamed of a race car wedding since she first started watching her dad, Stuart Randles, drive stock cars 18 years ago.

As a six-year-old, Tanya, from Eccles, told her dad at the Buxton High Edge Raceway what kind of wedding she wanted when she grew up.

Tanya got her wish when she made her way to church top-to-toe in white, riding her dad's six-year-old Fiesta `hot Ford' racing car.

She said: "I grew up watching my dad race. He was always my hero. I cheered him on as a kid, and then when my fiancé started racing I thought, this was the most personal way to get married. I never wanted the traditional wedding most girls want. I had the perfect day, something that meant so much to me."

Sweetheart

Tanya married her childhood sweetheart Andy Mercer, 27, who races stock cars every fortnight with her dad.

Andy said: "When I looked at her on the stock car I was so proud. She made our wedding the day we wanted it to be. She looked so beautiful."

Tanya's father, Stuart, 45, said: "She always said she wanted to go to church on a stock car. I never really believed it. She's a daddy's girl and the wedding brought back memories of when she was little."

Tanya, who is mum to Keidan, seven, McKenzie, four, Dalton, two, and Sidnie, one, may be attending a second stock car wedding in a couple of decades.

She said: "I take the kids to watch my dad and Andy race and it's funny but they come out with similar things to what I did at that age. Who knows, hopefully when it's my daughter Sidnie's turn to get married, she might want a stock car wedding, too," she said.

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