Loved-up couples determined to get married during the coronavirus crisis drastically altered their plans this week in order to tie the knot just hours before Boris Johnson’s wedding ban came into effect.
Teachers Kayley Howell, 27, and Ryan Plant, 29, from Essex, cut their guestlist and ditched their reception in order to celebrate their love before the ban came into place.
Meanwhile Len Carter, 64, and Carol Clegg, 57, from Anglesey, arranged their wedding in just 24 hours after their venue revealed on Saturday night that they had a cancellation slot the following day.
Last night, Boris Johnson said any family reunions, weddings, baptisms and other social events must be cancelled as the country battles to stop the spread of coronavirus.
Loved-up couples drastically altered their wedding plans in order to marry this week, tying the knot hours before Boris Johnson announced a total ban on the ceremony (pictured, Teachers Kayley Howell, 27, and Ryan Plant, 29, from Essex, who married yesterday hours before the ban)
Kayley and Ryan had originally planned to get hitched on April 19, but when the bride’s family couldn’t attend from Canada, along with elderly guests, the pair decided to bring the official ceremony forward.
The couple had to make radical changes to their planned service, including cutting the guest list and dispensing with the wedding breakfast and reception in favour of just having their witnesses along with the registrar.
The happy couple tied the knot at the Princes Theatre, Clacton yesterday just hours before the Prime Minister announced the hard-hitting measures on movement of people, including banning weddings.
Kayley spoke of her relief at beating the deadline, saying: ‘We were determined to go ahead with our wedding.
‘With all the uncertainty that is surrounding the world at the moment, we wanted to make a declaration of our love.’
She added: ‘When everything has settled down, we’ll look to hold a big celebration with family and friends.’
Meanwhile Ryan explained it was the doubt about how long the coronavirus crisis would last that helped them decide to go through with their rush job nuptials.
The 29-year-old said: ‘With the uncertainty surrounding the current situation, we also didn’t know how long we would have to wait, and I just wanted to marry the love of my life.
Meanwhile Len Carter, 64, and Carol Clegg, 57, from Anglesey, arranged their wedding day in just 24 hours after their venue announced they had a cancellation on Sunday
‘Ultimately life goes on, even if we do have social distancing and even if the way we live our lives changes, love continues.
‘We would love to thank everyone who has helped to make our day a reality.’
And they weren’t the only couple to beat the wedding ban by changing their original plans.
Len and Carol sorted their superfast big day because they feared the wedding ban would halt their May wedding.
Their honeymoon to Mallorca was already cancelled – and they could see the marriage ceremony would be next.
But after speaking to the wedding venue, the bride and groom were amazed when they were offered a slot the following day.
Len and Carol decided to go ahead with their vows because they ‘wanted to get married as soon as possible’ despite not being joined by friends and family
Carol said: ‘We could have delayed the wedding until next year but we wanted to get married as soon as possible.
‘It would have been much nicer if celebrated with friends and family and usually to not have your nearest and dearest with you would feel like disaster, but these aren’t normal times.
‘We had watched Boris Johnson’s presentation and he ordered the closure of pubs, clubs and restaurants and we thought it was not going happen.’
Meanwhile their venue, The Valley Hotel in Anglesey, North Wales, went all out to decorate the ceremony room with the couple’s planned colour scheme.
General manager Jon Craven played the role of father and best man as he walked Carol down the aisle, while two other members of staff acted as witnesses at Sunday’s wedding.
Carol moved with Len from Hertfordshire to Anglesey to retire in 2018 and said while the wedding was ‘a completely unusual situation’, it couldn’t have gone any better.
Kayley and Ryan said they were determined to ‘make a declaration of love’ to one another during the outbreak
She said: ‘The staff were brilliant and went above and beyond to make it special.
‘Our only expectation was a room with two witnesses and registrar, but they dressed the room in colours right and even organised a bouquet for me and a buttonhole for Len and threw confetti when we left.
‘We felt particularly grateful as it has been such a bad time for these people but they focused on making it our special day.’
The couple will have another ceremony at the venue next year when family and friends can come, and plan to rebook their honeymoon around the same time.
Britain’s 66 million people are today beginning a new life in coronavirus lockdown after Boris Johnson ordered the immediate closure of all non-essential shops and threatened people with fines or even arrest if they do not ‘stay at home’.
The Prime Minister’s shutdown will last for a minimum of three weeks and the UK’s new state of emergency is unprecedented in modern history.
Gatherings of more than two people will be banned in the most dramatic curbs on freedom ever seen in Britain in time of peace or war, as the government goes all out to stop the spread of the killer disease, which has claimed 335 lives.
Two hotel staff acted as witnesses for Carol and Len’s big day after the bride and groom decided they didn’t want to postpone amid the coronavirus outbreak