Midwife Natalie met Mark when she became his mentor during a placement at Basildon University Hospital’s maternity unit. “Mark was training to be a paramedic, and there was an instant attraction between us,” says Natalie. “We saw more and more of each other, and soon began to realise we were meant to spend the rest of our lives together.” Three years later, the couple were enjoying a family Christmas break at Center Parcs in Elveden Forest. “One night, we went to see the giant snow globes that you could get in to have your photo taken,” continues Natalie. “Once inside, Mark got down on one knee and asked to marry me! Shocked, but over the moon, I said ‘yes’, then we all went out and celebrated with lots of Champagne.” Natalie and Mark started planning their wedding straight away, putting deposits on a venue, photographer and string quartet. Then Natalie spotted a competition on Instagram where NHS workers could win a wedding worth £26,000, and thought it couldn’t hurt to just fill out the form… OVER THE RAINBOW The competition, organised by florist and venue stylist Rosie Obeney of Rose Decor Styling, offered one lucky couple a free wedding at Tuffon Hall, including photography, videography, dresses, suits, cake, catering, flowers, stationery, entertainment, hair, make-up, decorations and more. With 24 Essex suppliers involved, Natalie decided to enter. “We felt the way we met and working for the NHS was a story in itself, but wanted to show we were also not immune to our own suffering. Unfortunately, in 2017, during a perfect pregnancy, our son, Ronnie, was born at 23 weeks. Sadly, after three weeks of spending every minute with him, he passed away. We returned to our roles within the NHS, which took immense resilience with me working on the delivery suite and Mark as a paramedic. Being thrust back into a life where you’re faced with living your own nightmare through others, as well as having first-hand experience understanding people’s darkest times, is hard, to say the least. We were then overjoyed to welcome our beautiful rainbow baby, Teddy, in late 2018, which showed that we can survive anything together.” IN IT TO WIN IT The couple were out shopping when they received a call saying they’d been shortlisted for the prize. “It was so noisy in the shop I thought at first we were only in the running for winning some wedding flowers!” says Natalie. “We were asked to attend Basildon University Hospital in uniform, to meet some suppliers as we’d made the final three. Upon arrival, we were handed cards to read in order, and were told some of the businesses would be waiting to meet us by the maternity entrance as part of being shortlisted. When we got to the last card, and read that we’d actually won, we were in total disbelief! Arriving at the maternity entrance, we were then surprised by the suppliers and lots of our friends and family! We were still in shock for days afterwards!” 37 REAL WEDDINGS
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