A bride was able to organise her wedding in just 24 hours and purchased wedding rings from Argos so she could make her dying mum's final wish to see her big day come true.
Sarah Frampton’s mother Joyce had been diagnosed with cancer and was given the tragic news she had months to live when her health took a sudden turn back in 2012.
Ten years on, bride Sarah, who is now 46, said: “Me and my husband were engaged to be married in 2014. But in 2012, my dad told me that my mum only had two weeks to live and I was sad, and so disappointed that she wouldn’t be there for our wedding.”
Sarah spoke to one of the doctors at the hospice, who asked why they wouldn’t get married now, but Sarah was sure that it wouldn’t be possible as special licenses must be granted. However, the doctor urged her to have a chat with the chaplain in the hospital to see if there was anything she could do to help, WiltshireLive reports.
The chaplain told Sarah that as it wasn’t her husband or herself dying, they wouldn’t be able to get married in the hospice, but if they could get married elsewhere, they would be able to receive a blessing in the hospice, which Joyce would be able to be part of.
Sarah and her fiancée Kevin applied for a special licence, accompanied with a letter from the “lovely doctor” explaining their situation. The next morning, they received a call granting the permission to get married at the Ringwood Registry Office that weekend.
Sarah said: “We had 24 hours to get everything organised.” Luckily the best friends of the husband and wife-to-be had the day off anyway, and they went to Southampton’s Oxfam to buy her wedding dress.
She said: “When we got there, it was just shutting and I was in tears, with my dad on the phone and my friend was explaining to the lady in the shop what was happening, who said: ‘That’s it - I’m opening up! We’re going to find you a wedding dress.”
The bride-to-be tried on tonnes of wedding dresses. Eventually she found the one, but it was too long so her friend spent the whole night taking it up for her.
Sarah’s dad organised the wedding flowers and she and Kevin bought some ‘cheap wedding rings from Argos’, according to Mirror Online. Family and friends were running around buying the bridesmaids’ dresses, and sorting a reception in the hospice, while the nurses helped decorate the lounge.
On Saturday, Sarah and Kevin got married at Ringwood Registry Office and headed over to Salisbury Hospice where they received a blessing in the chapel, making Joyce’s dying wish come true of seeing her daughter get married. She died three days later aged 61.
Sarah added: “A lot of people don’t believe that I organised a wedding within 24 hours. The year after, as they were already booked to get married anyway, they did it all again, complete with a honeymoon, hen night, stag night, reception and blessing.
2022 marks the 10-year anniversary of Sarah and Kevin’s first wedding, and in celebration of her mum and in thanks to the Salisbury Hospice team, Sarah has organised a mini music festival to raise funds for the charity which helped make a dying wish come true.
Speaking on how her wedding day felt, the now mum of two, said: “It was very emotional, lots of tears, it wasn’t the wedding I dreamt of but at least my mum got to see us get married and it’s what she really wanted - to know her daughter was going to be happy and looked after.
“If it wasn’t for that lovely doctor, I don’t think we would have ever thought of doing it because you can’t imagine organising a wedding within 24 hours, because you think you have to get this licence.”
Don't miss the latest news from around Scotland and beyond - Sign up to our daily newsletter here.
READ MORE:
- Scots mum gets dying wish to 'leave this earth as Mrs' and marries love of her life
- Fairytale wedding fulfils brave young Lanarkshire mum's dying wish
- Dying bride granted final wish as groom arranges dream wedding after being told she has days left to live
- Dying Scots mum granted final wish of marrying partner in front of toddler son in dream wedding
