Nurses put off Saturday wedding to next April
FOR Jonathan Gapper and his fiancée, Jessica Parsons, this Saturday was meant to be the happiest day of their lives.
Mr Gapper proposed in January 2019, and the pair, from Bridgend, who have been together for six years, have been planning their wedding ever since.
But the happy couple, who both work at the Princess of Wales Hospital, in Bridgend, could not have imagined what would be in store for them 14 months after their engagement.
Instead of having their dream wedding in Oxwich Bay on Saturday, the coronavirus outbreak has meant they have had to postpone the big day until April 24, 2021.
And Mr Gapper, 26, had to fight symptoms of the virus himself after he believes he contracted it after a weekend in Edinburgh in March.
“I proposed in January 2019 and we made all of our plans and got everything sorted with 12 months to spare,” Mr Gapper said.
“From working in hospital and being nurses ourselves we could foresee this happening before we were even told by the wedding venue.
“It was disappointing for it to be cut short so close to the time, this is something we had planned for so long.
“But, overall, we’re quite positive people and our jobs take priority and the safety of our family is paramount.
“Thankfully, everyone from the cake makers to the florists were really good, and we were really lucky because we had foreseen it, we were able to rearrange things and move things from one date to another.”
Discussing his own battle with what he believes was the virus, Mr Gapper added: “We had gone away for the weekend to Edinburgh in late March and I came back with a raised temperature, a cough, aching, a lack of taste, a lack of smell – all the tickbox symptoms for coronavirus.
“At that point, only vulnerable people were getting tested so I was not tested. It took seven days to overcome and I was able to get back to work 10 days later.
“I have got underlying health conditions, and seeing it first hand in hospital and so many cases and fatalities you do worry. Thankfully, I had the right support network and have been able to get better.”
Mr Gapper added he and his future wife were “not dwelling on things”.
“We’re looking at the bigger picture,” he said.
“When you consider what a lot of people are going through, we are massively fortunate everybody in our family are still in good health and still fit and healthy.”