A British couple gets the wedding of their dreams on Friday, Sept. 11 at The Place apartments in Manchester - thanks to the kindness of complete strangers who funded the entire event for them.
Embattled couple Steven and Laura Monks, both aged 35, originally planned to spend three years saving up for their wedding and a house they can call their own. However, in an unexpected twists of events, Steven was diagnosed with liver and bowel cancer that are already in its terminal stages.
During a meeting with a nurse, the couple was introduced to a charity named Gift of a Wedding. The nurse explained that the said foundation works by asking business owners and ordinary people to donate things needed for a wedding such as cakes, dresses, invitations, makeup, among many others. The beneficiaries of the charity are those that yearn to be married right away, just like Steven and Laura.
Laura then called the charity instantly and submitted an application form. After a few days, the founder of the organization informed them that their wedding has been approved. Since then, the couple had been busy preparing for their big day.
The charity created a post about Steven and Laura and days after, lots of people have expressed their intentions to donate all sorts of things for their wedding. The donations pledged by the people include invitation cards, DJ, photography and videography services, professional singer, wedding cake, venue dressing, cupcakes, candy booth, magician, hair, makeup, ring cushion, photo booth and whole lot more. The couple could not believe how kind the strangers were.
Steven and Laura enjoyed their perfect day, with their daughter Lydia, as their flower girl.
The couple had been friends for a decade before they got engaged in 2013, which is three months after Lydia was born. They decided to put their wedding on hold to save up for a house. However, in October 2014, the doctors told Steven that he had a stage three liver and bowel cancer.
Steven underwent a surgery to remove his bowel and began his chemotherapy sessions right after. However, in April 2015, the doctors told them that Steven's illness has become terminal.
Although they wanted to get married right away, they had to postpone their plans following Steven's health news. Nonetheless, they said they wanted to get married as soon as possible as they want to have a fitting and proper family setup.
The years were spent in saving money, said Laura. But now that they look back, they wish they could have done things more moderately. According to her, they only had one family vacation, which was in Portugal, because all they were thinking about was to save. Steven works six to seven times a week and now hopes that he could have spent more time with his family.
Photo: Ashley | Flickr
