Bride’s tribute to family left behind in Ukraine
IT was the biggest day of their lives – but family and friends were present only in photos on chairs.
Pictures of loved ones were placed on seats along with sunflowers – the national flower of Ukraine – as Vitalij Melynik, 27, and Maria Bilyk, 23, married in the UK instead of their war-torn homeland. The bride and groom would have loved to tie the knot in Ukraine but that was not possible as the country is devastated by fierce fighting.
Instead they wed at a mansion in Taplow, Buckinghamshire, with just a few guests, including their mothers, witnessing the ceremony. They became a couple in 2019, but maintained a long-distance relathe tionship as gardener Mr Melynik has lived in Britain for a decade. He proposed while visiting Ukraine in late 2021 and planned to marry in the city of Lviv in June.
But the wedding was postponed when war broke out and teacher Maria fled her home. The couple settled in Feltham, west London, before getting hitched. Maria said: ‘It was still really special even though we couldn’t have most of our relatives there.
‘Now we really want the war to finish and to celebrate a big wedding with as many people as possible.’