Haverhill couple put wedding setback by having their own 'alternative' big day

On the very day that their postponed wedding should have been taking place, a couple from Haverhill instead came up with an alternative ‘lockdown wedding’.

Chrissie Feekery and Ben Barker, of Cambridge Close, were due to tie the knot at Bury Lodge, in Stansted on Saturday, only for the coronavirus crisis to cause its postponement until August – but even that is uncertain to still go ahead.

So Chrissie arranged for a different kind of day to be remembered, a day that also fell just two days before the tenth anniversary of being together.

She said: “It’s a really sad situation and I’m not one to sit around and be sad. So I planned a ‘lockdown wedding’.

“The wedding was a long time coming so just to have it cancelled was heartbreaking.

“I follow a group called ‘family lockdown tips & ideas’ on Facebook and a lady said her daughter was sad so took her to watch the sunrise which made me think I can do that for the ‘non wedding’.”

Chrissie and Ben, both 32, headed to Southwold and were there at 4.30am to watch the sunrise but unknown to Ben, Chrissie had asked her parents, Yvonne and Steve Feekery, of Saffron Walden, to be there.

Chrissie even made her own wedding dress out of a duvet bought from a scrap store for about £1 and Ben got a tuxedo T-shirt.

She added: “What Ben didn’t know was that I had asked my parents to come down with us and have my dad read out the vows and mum record the whole thing.

“I had given my parents the box with our rings in and some jars with candles in. Ben has no idea of this.

“We got to the pier about the same time and when he saw my parents he was so shocked.”

Her dad, said Chrissie, who had put on his suit, read out the vows and the rings were exchanged.

“It honestly could not have been more perfect,” added Chrissie.

Upon returning to Haverhill the couple had a ‘wedding cake’ made by Yvonne and a barbecue and shared their goodies with the neighbours.

Chrissie added: “We have probably spent, with everything in total, about £15,000, which is such a lot of money for a wedding and we do something like we did on Saturday and it probably cost us about £20.

“It was such a magical experience. It was brilliant.

“We got a massive shout out from our neighbour and he played a song he had asked us for in the morning.

“It was the most perfect day!