Paulsgrove couple granted wedding of their dreams with rings delivered by an owl

In December 2019, mum Crystal was told the devastating news that she had cervical cancer.

The couple’s plans to holiday in New York were abruptly cut short and Richard’s magical Christmas gift for Crystal – to propose in Central Park - had to be put on hold.

So when a year later, Richard got down on one knee in front of their family members at Crystal’s sister’s house in the Isle of Wight, she was in total shock.

‘I was totally oblivious that he would do this,’ she says.

‘He’d pretended he’d been at work that day and he just came down the stairs with my little girl holding a card that said, “will you marry mummy?”

‘I started crying. He was saying, "are you going to answer me?"

‘It took me about 5 or 10 minutes to say yes,’ she laughs.

The Paulsgrove couple were finally granted their dream wedding at New Place Hotel, Wickham - exactly a year on from the date Richard proposed.

And though Crystal is undergoing further treatment, she was very grateful to be ‘the first person’ at Queen Alexandra Hospital in Cosham to receive a specialised form of robotic treatment which detects lymph nodes for her condition. Crystal had three removed, and luckily none of them were cancerous.

On their special day, Crystal and Richard were joined by 70 guests in the day and about 50 more in the evening.

Since setting eyes on the former country house, Crystal was certain that this was the fairytale venue she’d dreamed of since she was a little girl.

‘Me, my husband and my mum went over to have a look at it and instantly when we drove into the driveway I thought, “this is it”.’

It was an emotional day for the besotted pair. Not least because of the health-related turmoil for the mum-of-three, but because this could be the last opportunity for her dad to walk her down the aisle.

She says: ‘My dad has Parkinson’s so his mobility is really poor.

‘Every girl wants their dad walking them down the aisle and I think this time next year he probably won’t be able to walk, so along with marrying Rich that was the real highlight.’

Crystal and Richard first met at Havant Academy School in 2018 when Richard was a football coach at her son’s club.

A new found friendship soon blossomed into romance as Crystal admits they both ‘had eyes for one another’.

The couple are now proud parents to Elsie, 2, with Crystal having two sons from a previous relationship, and Rich, a son.

Before the ceremony, Crystal was cool as a cucumber until she reached the doors waiting to walk down the aisle.

‘After everything that I went through I realised that you don't need to get nervous.

‘The only time I was nervous was when I was stood behind the doors waiting to go into the ceremony and I was a bit like, “oh my god, it's happening."

Richard on the other hand was a bundle of nerves. ‘He kept crying,’ says Crystal.

The real icing on the cake, however, was when an owl by the name of Luna swooped down the aisle of guests to deliver the couple’s wedding rings.

An owl-lover herself, Crystal was made up.

She says: ‘When we walked into the wedding fayre at New Place he was there and I thought, I don't care how much he costs I just want him.

‘My sister and brother-in-law paid for him for our wedding present.’

And that wasn’t the only big spectacle of the day, as when the time came for the speeches, Richard pulled out all the stops, singing a rendition of a song so poignant to the both of them that it pulled at everybody’s heartstrings.

‘We were faffing around for wedding songs, I didn't know which one to do our first dance to.

‘And then he heard this song on the radio and – because of what I went through - he said all the words described how he was feeling when it was all happening.’

Crystal and Richard are planning on a Christmas honeymoon in New York where they can finally celebrate everything they’ve missed out on over the last few years.

A message from the Editor, Mark Waldron

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