An East Lancashire X Factor star has married her long-term partner. 

Samantha Chawner married Matthew Parkinson at Bolton’s Albert Halls on Saturday before having a reception at Farnworth Cricket Club.

The happy couple was seen posing for photographs in front of the steps at the Albert Halls. The bride was dressed in a traditional white wedding gown, holding a bouquet of blue and white flowers.

The groom matched his new wife, wearing a royal blue tie and the colour theme continued at the reception.

Farnworth Cricket Club manager Donna Murphy said the reception was ‘quiet’ and that those attending were ‘friendly.’

She added: “There weren’t many people here, it was a very, very quiet wedding, there were no kick-offs or anything like that.

“I don’t think she really drank or anything, she just sat there with her new husband. It was a very sedate wedding.

“They were all in good spirits.”

Sign up to our newsletters to get the latest stories sent straight to your inbox.

The X Factor singer unsuccessfully auditioned alongside sister Emma in 2009, two years after Emma had failed her solo audition.

Simon Cowell said the performance of Mariah Carey’s ‘Hero’ was “arguably twice as bad as before.”

When Emma said she wanted a chance to improve, Cowell quipped: “Girls, we have weeks, not decades.”

The duo received four ‘no’ votes from judges Louis Walsh, Cheryl Cole, Dannii Minogue, and Simon Cowell.

Follow The Bolton News on Facebook, Instagram, X (Twitter), and TikTok.

Following their unsuccessful audition, the Chawner family then appeared on Lorraine Kelly’s Big Fat Challenge, which saw the presenter aiming to help the family, who moved to Great Harwood after being evicted from their Ramsbottom home, to lose weight and get healthy.

In 2012, the family then landed their own programme, The Chawners’ Last Chance. The programme, broadcast on TV channel bio, saw the family aim to improve their health.

This was followed by an appearance on the Jeremy Kyle Show, where the two sisters confronted their mother, Audrey, for ‘abandoning’ them after she walked out and went to live in a bedsit.

Audrey sadly passed away earlier this year, aged 73.

If you have a story, I cover the whole borough of Bolton. Please get in touch at jack.fifield@newsquest.co.uk.