‘FALLING IN LOVE SAVED US!’
Mark and Miranda have stood by each other in sickness and in health, and now they’ re ecstatic to be marrying
As the smooth, sultry tones of John Legend floated across the dance floor, newlywed couple Mark and Miranda Wadson gazed into each other’s eyes, both thinking how perfectly the song reflected their feelings for each other.
“Love your curves and all your edges, all your perfect imperfections …”
Miranda’s stunning lace dress swayed as she danced with her new husband, looking dashing in his dark blue suit, in front of their 100 wedding guests.
They had just tied the knot in the beautiful rustic landscape of Western Australia’s Quarry Farm, and promised to love each other forever, in sickness and in health. It was like a scene straight from a fairytale.
And like in most true romances, Mark and Miranda had faced their share of obstacles on the way to finding their happily ever after. But in this couple’s case, they arguably faced tougher times than most.
“When we first met, we vowed not to let each other die,” recalls Miranda. “We promised to keep going and survive for one another.”
It sounds extreme, until you understand that Mark and Miranda met six years ago at a clinic in Perth, where they were both being treated for severe eating disorders.
After a troubled childhood, Miranda was in the grip of anorexia, while Mark was battling bulimia after a workplace injury left him unable to continue his job as a carpenter or play the sports he loved. His weight had skyrocketed and he spiralled into a dangerously unhealthy eating pattern to try and control it.
The pair struck up a conversation at the clinic and became friends, quickly realising while they lacked the strength to get better for themselves, they could fight their demons for one another.
Their pact bonded them and over time their friendship blossomed into love.
“I honestly never thought I’d live to see my wedding day,” shares Mark, 32, who admits that his illness almost killed him.
Miranda agrees that without Mark, she probably wouldn’t be here today, having been admitted to hospital six times due to anorexia and, at one stage, barely surviving a four-day coma.
“Before I met Mark, I felt like the only way to take control was to starve myself, gorge and then vigorously burn it off,” she says.
As a teenager, Miranda would barely eat, then binge and exercise relentlessly.
“If a girlfriend came over, I couldn’t just sit and talk,” explains the 23-year-old. “I’d have to step up and down a step as we chatted because I wouldn’t want to pass up an opportunity to lose weight. You don’t realise how far you’ve gone until you’re in a hospital bed.”
A lifeline
It wasn’t until Miranda befriended Mark that she began to believe in a brighter future for herself. Their promise to one another to get better was firmly planted in her mind, pulling her back from the brink each time she felt herself slipping.
If Mark could uphold his end of the bargain, so could she. “I feel like everything in my life guided me to him,” she says. “Mark is so caring and he makes me laugh. If I make a joke no-one finds funny, he’ll laugh. That’s love!”
Mark, too, found what he’d been searching for when he met Miranda. “When she jumped out of the limo on our wedding day, I had an overwhelming feeling of love and joy,” says the doting husband. “It felt surreal, like no-one was there except her and me.”
After pulling each other through such tough times, Mark and Miranda have already well and truly upheld their recent vows to care for each other in sickness and in health.
“We chose John Legend’s song “All of Me” for our first dance at our wedding because, to us, it’s about loving each other, even if we are a little crazy in the head,” says Miranda. “We will always love each other, no matter what imperfections we may have, because we feel that our imperfections are what made us have such a strong connection and fall for each other in the first place. I feel so blessed to be this happy.”
The temptation to slip back into dangerous habits may always be there for Mark and Miranda, but fortunately, so will their love and the promise they made to one another that ultimately saved their lives.
We promised to keep going and survive for one another