A couple of NHS doctors pulled their wedding forward by three months – so they could get back to work tackling the coronavirus pandemic.
Dominique Thompson, a mental health expert, and Simon Bradley, a former GP, have been together for 13 years and were finally ready to make things official.
But the retired pair have been called back to active duty with the NHS – so they knew a summer wedding would no longer be possible.
They pulled the ceremony forward by three months, getting married at Bristol Register Office.
Their wedding had to be one of the first under new coronavirus restrictions, meaning just two guests could attend and Dominique’s parents, both over 70, were not allowed to come along.
Dominique, 49, said: ‘We thought this would be a great year to get married – our little boy was ecstatic.
‘And we were supposed to go to New Zealand in July…waiting to see what happens, but for now the honeymoon involves homeschooling a 10-year-old.
‘We just wanted to be married to each other, and we knew Jack would be devastated if we cancelled.
‘We had to think – what will make me, Simon and the family smile?
‘Life is for living, and we have got to focus on small, positive acts.
‘Now we are doing what we can to help – trying to help the people we would normally be helping.’
The couple tied the knot at Bristol Register Office on 22 March then celebrated with an M&S Colin the Caterpillar cake and a can of Diet Coke.
Simon, 63, said: ‘We were really lucky – we could see things running out of control.
‘But it’s really simple to get some of that control back.
‘The day was wonderful and lovely.’
Simon proposed on New Year’s eve, 13 years after the pair met on a local medical committee.
At the beginning of March the pair began to realise their original plans might not be possible, Simon predicting that Dominique would get called out of NHS retirement.
On Monday 15 March they called the register office who said they had a slot in less than a week.
At this point they still thought their family in Surrey and London would be able to make their ‘micro wedding.’
The pair’s son Jack, 10, and their stepson Henry, 24, were the only family at the celebrations due to their other step-children isolating in London.
The only other guests were friends Jo and Paul, who acted as both witnesses and photographers – always from a distance of six feet.
Simon read Your Little Voice by EE Cummings – not only did it express how he felt about his wife-to-be, but also how he felt about the people that couldn’t be a part of their day.
They had booked the restaurant, Little French, for their original wedding celebrations scheduled for 13 June.
Instead the family-run restaurant provided the ingredients for roast beef with dauphinoise potatoes for the newlyweds to cook at home.
To ensure people smiled on the day, the pair had a Colin the Caterpillar cake from the local M&S garage.
The pair both wore outfits they already had – the only piece of wedding attire bought for the day was Jack’s Paul Smith football bow tie.
Dominique is one of 65,000 retired medics who have been called back to action.
Yet to hear what she can do to help, the pair are focusing on what they can do for their family.
Dominique said: ‘We are taking each day at a time, not planning that far in advance.
‘But we made a bright spot in a pretty dark week – it’s those things we can control.’
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source https://metro.co.uk/2020/03/24/couple-work-nhs-pull-wedding-forward-can-get-tackling-coronavirus-12446187/?ITO=squid
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