Christmas Wedding Crasher

A surprise guest didn’t wait for an invite to our big day!

- Rachel Tompkins, Punteha Van Terheyden

Watching the figures on the TV screen, I punched the air.

‘Yessss!’ my boyfriend Liam, 23, and I shouted together.

We loved Xbox video games, and tonight Liam was on a winning streak.

It was June 2018 – and though we’d only met six months earlier, we’d already moved in and we're expecting a baby.

I couldn’t have been happier.

But looking around our little flat, I wondered where we’d fit everything once junior arrived.

There was something else on my mind, too.

‘I want us all to have the same surname,’ I blurted while the next game loaded.

‘Me, too,’ Liam replied.

And, just like that, we were getting married!

Liam was in the Army, so we could move into the couple’s quarters afterwards, solving another problem.

The following week, we booked a register-office slot.

We chose 11 am on 8 December 2018.

A month before I was due.

Putting my Cyber forensics degree on hold, I began preparing.

I asked my friends Ella and Lucy to be bridesmaids, booked our local for a reception and sent out 25 pastel-coloured invites.

Then we got Liam’s Christmas rota and realised he’d be working until New Year.

‘Why don’t we give our Christmas presents to our friends and family early, at the wedding?’ I said.

‘Brilliant idea,’ Liam smiled.

I bought a flowing white gown with room for my growing bump, ordered flowers and decorations.

A week before the wedding, Liam and I went to the local shopping centre.