A COUPLE who crossed continents, cultures and climates to be together have said ‘I do’ in a magical winter wonderland wedding.

Tatiana Baez, 26, an accommodation officer at a language school, and Lucas Saunders, 26, who owns a family business, have tied the knot at the idyllic Abbey House Hotel.

The pair first met at summer camp in Massachusetts three years ago where they were initially just friends.

Tatiana and Lucas, from Manchester, chose to get married in Cumbria due to their mutual love of nature.

“We both love nature and mountains so thought Cumbria would be the perfect place,” Mrs Saunders said.

The now Mrs Saunders said: “I thought he was very cute when I first met him.

“We started hanging out and speaking a lot, then we couldn’t stop talking.

“I would have never thought I would go to camp for three months and find the love of my life.”

The following January Mr Saunders flew to his future wife’s hometown in Puerto Rico as a surprise.

“I’d actually planned on coming to the UK to meet his family,” Mrs Saunders said.

“But he decided he wanted to meet all my family first which was so lovely.

“We’re both big family people and make friends everywhere we go.”

By the following September, the pair got engaged whilst on a romantic holiday in Puerto Rico.

Mrs Saunders said: “Lucas came over for two weeks.

“We were on the beach one night watching the sun go down when he suddenly asked me.

“I was kind of expecting it but didn’t know when it would happen.”

For their big day, the pair chose to tie the knot at the Abbey House Hotel in Barrow in front of 80 people with another 40 people joining them in the evening.

“Everyone flew over from Puerto Rico, Sweden, America, all over, for the wedding,” Mrs Saunders said.

“It was important to us both they were all there. The whole day was like a fairytale - it was magical.”

The pair had a traditional winter wonderland wedding, combined with some Latin twists.

Mrs Saunders said: “There was lots of Latin music, it was a real mixing of two cultures.

“There were Spanish and English readings.”

For their honeymoon, the newlyweds travelled back to Puerto Rico for a cruise alongside all the family members who could not attend the wedding.

All photography featured in the article is by Lorraine Oates.