‘Our magical wedding day’
‘Finally saying I do after so long was a great feeling,’ says Emma Artemiou, smiling, after she explains how she and her husband Jamie had to postpone their original wedding because of coronavirus.
‘The original date was July 24 with 45 guests but we had to postpone.’
The couple met on dating app Bumble in 2018, shortly after Emma moved to Portsmouth with her daughter to be closer to her sister.
‘We went for a drink at the Harvester at Eastern Road. I remember he had shaved his beard and that was one of the things I liked about him,’ says Emma, laughing.
‘I asked him why he shaved it. He hasn’t shaved it off since.’
On Bumble, the app only allows women to message men first.
Emma, 45, says: ‘One of the reasons I first messaged him was because we both like this band that no one ever seems to have heard of called Gaslight Anthem.
‘We had so many things in common.’
A year later, Jamie, 50, got down one one knee much to Emma’s surprise. She was actually planning on proposing herself because it was a leap year.
‘Jamie proposed when we got back from a QPR v Portsmouth game in January 2019,’ says Emma.
‘It took me completely by surprise. I couldn’t believe it.
I was thinking about it but he beat me to it,’ she adds, smiling.
After moving their wedding to December 5, Emma explains how the month before was stressful as the country was in its second lockdown and the couple did not know whether their special day would go ahead.
She says: ‘We didn’t know if we were going to come out of lockdown.
‘It was a bit of a mad rush. ‘We only had 13 guests but I think because it was small and intimate, we remember every bit.
‘I lost my dad in November so my mum gave me away. My sister was my maid of honour and my daughter and niece were my bridesmaids. Jamie’s dad was his best man.’
Emma says getting married at the beginning of December 2020 at the Queens Hotel, Southsea, was absolutely magical.
‘I just love Jamie’s honesty and I think he loves how much love I have to give,’ adds Emma, smiling.
The couple enjoyed a twoweek honeymoon in Cuba.