Shock read: Our £36,000 wedding disaster – one woman’s road to the altar
Steph Goss, 31, was determined that her extravagant wedding celebrations would be perfect – but then tragedy struck
With a sigh, I gazed at the images filling my laptop screen. A bride and groom stood beneath majestic pillars festooned with candles and flowers. It looked like a fairy tale – the sort of wedding I’d dreamt about all my life.
‘We’ve found The One,’ I told my fiancé, James Goss, 35. ‘You’re right,’ he smiled. ‘That’s where we’re going to get married.’
It was April 2015 and, since getting engaged the previous month, we had been searching for a wedding venue abroad. But after browsing online for venues in Spain and Italy, nothing had felt right – until we’d stumbled across 16th-century Sponza Palace, in Dubrovnik, Croatia. We booked it for 31 May 2016 and paid a deposit of £1,000. We also booked a reception party for 25 June 2016 in Liverpool, for those who wouldn’t make it to Croatia. With so much to organise, my head was buzzing.
Unexpected news
Our celebrations and two-week honeymoon on Bora Bora would cost an eye-watering £36,000. Thankfully, our parents offered to help out but we had to save up for the majority of the cost, so we both started working overtime, both as police officers.
But in May 2015, James fell seriously ill with sickness and crippling stomach pains, and had to be rushed to hospital from our home in Upholland, Lancashire. We clung to each other as the doctors told us the terrible news – it could be stomach cancer.
For the next two weeks, numb with fear and shock, I stayed at James’ hospital bedside, as he weakened daily. All thoughts of wedding plans were put aside. But then further tests turned everything around. It was a virus, not cancer, and treatable with surgery and medication.
When he finally came home, in June 2015, he’d lost 3st. ‘At least I’ll look slim for our wedding,’ he joked, weakly. I was just so thankful to have him home and the ordeal had brought us even closer.
As months passed, I thought of nothing but the wedding. I spent hours hunched over my sewing machine, making personalised bunting. I made piles of invites, adorning them with diamanté. I decorated glass jars with ribbons to use as vases. I even hired a choreographer for our first dance, who taught James to slide across the floor on his knees before twirling me around to our wedding song, Use
Somebody by Kings of Leon. My mum, Brenda, 69, and sister Lisa, 48, helped me choose my dress, a lace number with a tulle skirt. I found lilac bridesmaid gowns for Lisa and my best friend, Fiona, 29. We bought suits for James and his best man, Scott, 42.
I exchanged daily emails with our Croatian wedding planner, Katarina, and put together seating plans and table numbers. On 26 May 2016, we flew to Dubrovnik, joined by 40 family and friends. The next day, we visited Sponza Palace. ‘It’s perfect,’ I sighed, as we walked through the rooms.
Plans in tatters
We had arrived at the resort early to settle in and, two days later, we went on a boat cruise around three islands with friends. As we disembarked on the second island and strolled along the seafront, James slipped on some algae. With a thud, he landed on a concrete jetty, his left leg badly bent.
‘Don’t panic,’ I soothed, as he wailed in agony. But, after being taken by a speedboat taxi to the hospital in Dubrovnik, an X-ray revealed his left leg was broken, the bone had snapped diagonally.
‘The ordeal had brought us closer together’
‘He’ll need surgery to fit a metal plate,’ the doctor explained. Sitting outside the operating theatre, with our worried parents, I sobbed. Thankfully, after two hours in surgery, the surgeon said they had managed to fix James’ leg. But the following morning, when I explained about our wedding, the doctor shook his head. James couldn’t leave hospital. Gulping back tears, I pictured our worried guests, waiting for news at the hotel.
Then the doctor made a suggestion. ‘How about using the hospital chapel?’ he said. The tiny chapel in the hospital basement was usually only used for funerals and baptisms. It was hardly a palace but it was our only choice. ‘Yes, please,’ I told the doctor. Katarina, our wedding planner, promised to work her magic on the chapel. The medical staff offered to move the pews, so that James’ bed could be wheeled inside.
The morning of our wedding, my stomach was doing double flips. James had wanted me to get ready at our hotel, as planned. ‘This will still be a wonderful day,’ I said, sipping champagne with my bridesmaids, as the stylist did my hair and make-up.
At the hospital, James’ best man, Scott, helped him get into his waistcoat, shirt and tie, but
underneath the sheets he wore pyjama bottoms. He refused his painkillers, as they made him drowsy. As I arrived at the chapel, he was smiling through his pain. Katarina had filled the chapel with flowers and candles, making it as beautiful as any palace. Gazing into James’ eyes to exchange our vows, I forgot the planning, the expense and the stress. It was incredibly romantic.
There wasn’t a dry eye in the congregation. ‘You’ve been through hell to get here,’ my mum said, wrapping her arms around us both.
Bittersweet moment
After the ceremony, our guests went on a boat cruise but James and I stayed on the ward. ‘I don’t want you to miss out completely,’ he told me. So I took a taxi to our reception venue. The three-course meal was delicious and the music was perfect but dancing with my dad rather than my husband was bittersweet and I headed back to the hospital. The nurses had moved James into a side room and pushed a bed in there for me. We had a glass of bubbly and went to sleep, holding hands. Five days later, I flew home, while James was taken separately by air ambulance to the Royal Albert Edward Infirmary in Wigan, where X-rays showed his leg was healing well. Two days later, he came home. Sadly, we’d had to cancel our honeymoon, which wasn’t covered by our insurance, losing £4,000. And although our wedding was covered, we didn't get the money back from our reception. In March, we finally went on our rebooked honeymoon to Bora Bora, after saving up again, and this summer, we’re returning to Croatia. We’ll revisit the hospital chapel – it will always be special to us. Despite everything, our wedding day was perfect. With all the glamour and trimmings stripped away, it was just about our love.