I have been dreaming about my wedding since I was 3 years old, I was obsessed with watching all my aunties and parents wedding videos, I watched them 2-3 times a day. My mum says ‘you were just totally obsessed!’ Fast forward 30 years and I finally met someone who I knew would be my husband.

A success story from tinder, we hit it off from day one and 2 years later he proposed to me and we had already spoken about hosting our wedding in the island of Ios in Greece, an island that was very special to us.

Me being the most organised person ever, I managed to confirm the venue within 3 weeks and started the search for a wedding planner. 2 months later my mum, sister and I flew to Ios to finalise the last few bits and meet our wedding planner (Zak was happy to leave the details to the ladies lol). It was a successful trip, the wedding planner was the most amazing in the game, florist; mind blowing, venue was the perfect location and the weather just right for a wedding in June. Date set 20th June 2020, it sounded perfect with an after-wedding white party on the 21st.

We celebrated our engagement party 27th July 2019 and by September our invitations were ready and posted to all our nearest and dearest – it was so exciting I just could not wait.

By December, I had found and bought my wedding dress, the bridesmaid dresses were all sorted, Zaks suit and both our shoes were purchased and I had even bought almost all of our summer clothes and, don’t laugh, even all our toiletries and sun creams!

Come January, the replies were returned so the favours were ordered for the wedding and white party. Everything from hungover bags to flip flops to customised robes for bridesmaids, literally everything you can think of was ordered and ready to be shipped to Athens for the wedding planner to bring with her to the island. I even got my dad to design and make all our wedding frames for our table plans and welcome signs and they were all wrapped and ready to be shipped over.

By February, there was nothing to do at all just wait for the big day. Of course, as we all know, 2020 took a turn for the worst. Something all of us probably couldn’t believe was happening. A pandemic was about to ruin all our lives.

At first, Zak and I were in denial. He was adamant things will blow over and be ok and for me not to worry at all. So, I stayed calm, I was so sure that things would be ok, and we would be getting married this year.

Another month passes and the panic sets in, Zak looked at me one night and I said to him, ‘you know this wedding isn’t going to happen.’ His reply ‘I’m marrying you this year no matter what’.

End of March, we sat down to make the decision we were forced to make and cancel our wedding, 33 years I waited to get married and of course this would happen the year I wanted to get married – the devastation was indescribable, I was heartbroken, I felt sorry for myself. Why would this happen to us? But we had to remain positive, I put a smile on my face and just had to accept it is what it is.

We were worried about how much money we would lose; would we be able to postpone to the following year? Would all our vendors be available? Would our venue understand? And are we even covered by our wedding insurance?

Thankfully my very smart mother took out the best wedding insurance and would you believe it – we were covered for infectious diseases around the world!

The next step was the hardest, trying to rearrange a whole wedding in 3 days so we could have all the original vendors. It was a chase of first come first serve so I jumped on it!

Our wedding planner thankfully secured the florist and videographer, I chased the two DJ’s and photographer trying to get a date they both could do as deposits were paid, we didn’t want to lose them! Next came making sure all of our close family and bridesmaids were able to make the date and also whilst doing all the above – which was the most stressful thing I’ve ever had to do in such a short space of time – you also have to consider other weddings taking place so you don’t clash!

We are now in April and we have gone from looking forward to our wedding in 3 months, to our wedding being over a year away. It is hard every day to swallow that something so sacred to us has been taken away so quickly. It’s a feeling I can’t even explain, the excitement is still there but the sadness that we were so close and now so far away hits me all the time. I know we had no choice and of course there are worse things going on in the world, but it doesn’t stop us from feeling sad about something so special being cancelled! It’s not just the wedding that has been delayed but our whole lives, delaying us having a baby and just starting the next chapter of our lives.

I know a few brides that have been going through the same nightmare as us and we turn to each other for support, keeps us positive.

In this crisis we are living, our main concern was for our guests to be healthy and safe and for this to pass so we can all go back to our normal lives again.

We will have our dream wedding, on our dream island, with all our favourite people, just a year later. And by then, I’m sure everyone will be desperate for a holiday, a celebration and a big fat Greek wedding.