‘We Celebrated Our Big Day In Lockdown!'

After their wedding was cancelled, Gerri Smith, 44, a stay-at-home mum and her accountant fiancé Dave McNulty, 42, from Chester, held their ‘would have been’ big day – complete with a £20 eBay dress

- Tiffany Wallis

My heart sank as the events coordinator from our wedding venue delivered the bad news over the phone. “We’re so sorry, but we’re going to have to postpone your big day until 2021,” he said. I sighed and grabbed a pen, crossing off another bullet point from our to-do list. In what should have been the final few exciting weeks before Dave and I walked down the aisle, it was quickly turning into every bride’s worst nightmare.

The phone had been ringing non-stop as the florist, venue, DJ and everyone else involved in our wedding made the dreaded calls to cancel our bookings due to the coronavirus.

I snuggled up on the sofa next to our four-year-old son George, who gave me a big cuddle. “It’s OK Mum, just have your wedding when things go back to normal,” he said sweetly.

I took a deep breath, fighting back tears – I didn’t want my little boy to sense my disappointment. “Good idea George. Mummy will figure it out,” I promised. Poor George was oblivious to what was going on in the world.

“That’s everything cancelled now,” I said to Dave over dinner that evening as I finally closed my wedding planning diary. I knew it couldn’t be helped – and that the health and safety of our family and friends was much more important – but I was still crushed.

We broke the news to my brother Philip and his wife Joyce over FaceTime that night. They live in Hong Kong but had been put on lockdown before the UK and had been gutted that they might miss our big day.

‘”It’s such a shame you won’t be able to visit now. But at least you’re not missing the wedding,” I said.