‘IT REALLY WAS A FAIRYTALE WEDDING’
Bride paralysed from neck down ties knot after finding love online
O N THE morning of her wedding day Alicia Clarke, like any other bride, was full of nerves.
Getting ready in her bedroom – the same bedroom she was in when she proposed to her then-boyfriend Kevin – it was the start of a day she once thought she would never see.
For the 33-year-old from Cardiff the big day comes after years of first dates and rejection.
But none of this stopped the determined bride from keeping optimistic and living her life to the full – regardless of being unable to move from the neck down.
Thirty-one years ago, Alicia was left paralysed after an accident.
As a toddler she had wandered out of an open door from her family home in Canton when she was hit by a car.
Alicia, who cannot remember the accident, was left in a coma for eight months after that day.
It wasn’t until she was five that she returned home to a space specially adapted for her motorised wheelchair. She now needs 24-hour care from a team of nurses and carers.
Dating had never been easy, she says, until she met security worker Kevin online.
The pair had a first date at Vodka Revolutions in Cardiff and got on like a “house on fire”.
Kevin said: “I just thought she was amazing, she’s got a wicked personality. It was kind of love at first sight.”
Talking about Alicia’s disability, he added: “When she told me, my exact worlds were ‘I don’t care’.
“It’s about personality. We just have a laugh together.”
He added: “My family love Alicia to bits. She’s what makes me happy.
“They weren’t surprised when I told them; I’m full of surprises, I always have been.”
When it comes to the couple’s engagement, however, it was Alicia behind the surprise.
After a romantic Valentine’s Day meal out two years after meeting, she popped the question – giving Kevin, from Redditch, an engagement ring.
She said: “We had just come back from a Valentine’s meal and I had the ring in my mouth and said ‘can I have your left hand?’
“’I got his ring finger and slipped the ring on. I just got the courage to do it on the day.”
Speaking about her hen do, she added: “It was cool, but I can’t remember it all!
“We went to Kings in Canton, we all wore black and pink.”
Before she knew it, the wedding date had arrived – July 21.
Accompanied by three bridesmaids and two page boys, Alicia arrived at St Mary’s Church in Canton with the help of an old friend and an adapted car.
Once again she gave Kevin his wedding ring, in front of family, friends and her nurses, using her mouth.
She said: “I was so nervous I got Kevin’s names the wrong way around. I also had to make sure I didn’t swallow the ring.
“Everyone got all emotional at the end. When Kevin got told to kiss the bride they were all clapping and cheering. “I wanted to cry but I had mascara on.” She added: “When we signed the register I used my mouth, everyone wanted photos.”
After exiting the church to the sound of Shania Twain, the bridal party danced the night away at Llandaff Rugby Club.
There the happy couple shared their first dance to Ed Sheeran’s Perfect to mark the start of the party, captured by friend and photographer Victoria Wright.
Alicia said: “We kept joking that our first dance was going to be ‘Bat Out of f Hell’. It was just chilled out, it was a really good night.”
Alicia and Kevin will spend their first few weeks together enjoying day trips across South Wales instead of taking a traditional honeymoon. Kevin hopes it won’t be long until he makes the move to Wales so the newlyweds can start their new lives together.
For Alicia, things could hardly have been more perfect.
She said: “It really was a fairytale wedding. You just needed Tinkerbell to spread the glitter.”