'It was a day filled with laughter, tears and memories'

Denise Nolan and Tom Anderson tie the knot surrounded by family in an emotional ceremony filled with music and love

- MITYA UNDERWOOD

Newlyweds Denise Nolan and Tom Anderson waited almost half a century to officially become husband and wife. Now, in the shadow of the iconic Blackpool Tower and witnessed by their nearest and dearest – including Denise’s sisters Coleen, Linda, Anne and Maureen – the couple have cemented the final chapter in their decades-long love story.

When OK! speaks to Denise the day after the ceremony and she reminisces about the poignant moments that made it so special, it is clear she’s still on an emotional – albeit exhausted – high.

“I had a fabulous day,” she smiles. “But everyone’s exhausted, we didn’t get home until midnight. We danced our legs off all night!”

The couple, who married on Monday 17 June, first met when Denise, now 72, was singing with The Nolans and Tom, 77, was the resident drummer at the London Rooms, above London’s New London Theatre in the West End.

“We’ve been together now for 47 years and we love each other. We got engaged about 30 years ago, but we didn’t think we needed the piece of paper to say that,” she says. “He’s asked me to marry him a few times but usually when he’s had a drink and is feeling sentimental! Then I mention it to him the next day and he runs a mile!”

One important factor that contributed to the couple finally making it official was Tom’s heartbreaking Parkinson’s diagnosis in 2018. Denise accepts, especially given her own family losses, that tomorrow is never guaranteed, and they “didn’t want to wait until further down the line where he might be a lot worse and it could be hard work”.

When the pair decided that the time had finally come to make it official, it took them a while to work out exactly how and when they wanted to do it. Initially, Denise laughs, they “weren’t going to make a big deal of it”, planning an intimate ceremony with just her, Tom and two witnesses to sign the paperwork. But things moved on once Linda caught wind of the idea.