Ikea assembles wedding for flatpack lovers

An Australian couple tied the knot on Valentine's Day at Sydney's Ikea store, citing their love for the Swedish flatpack furniture giant that had "made them closer".

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Chad Martin and Lynne Klanbida beat almost 500 other couples in a competition to seal their love in the concrete aisles of the furniture store, reported the Daily Mail.

"Our visits to IKEA over the years have actually brought the two of us closer!" exlaimed Klanbida, who was pictured in a flamboyant white dress that looked dramatically at odds with the several-metre high steel shelving in the checkout area of the Sydney store.

The couple invited 80 personal guests while an equally-sized helping of attendees were selected from the Ikea fans who registered their interest on the company's Facebook page.

The ceremony took place at the entrance to the huge store, which later invited guests to dine in its in-house restaurant that had been pimped with textiles and lighting fixtures from the company's furnishing range.

The love-birds and their guests dined on a traditional Swedish smörgåsbord.

The wedding cake had a flatpack kind of feel, with lightbrown slaps of icing towering up in an avant-garde construction.

Klanbida described her new husband as "MacGyver with an Allen Key."

Katie Rynne, who witnessed the wedding, claims the event was a media frenzy.

"It was certainly a little strange," she told The Local.

"The wedding itself was held in the carpark - guests were seated directly in front of the stage, then there was standing room at the side for IKEA staff and anyone else to watch from."

"There was quite a bit of giggling from a few people just because the whole thing was such a strange concept."

While Rynne admits that the flood of photographers, camera operators, and officials made for a "weird wedding", the couple’s special moment was not ruined.

"As the photos stopped and they got ready to walk down the aisle, you could hear the bride crying as she hugged her mum. The groom was teary as she walked down the aisle as well - they seemed like a genuinely happy couple."

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