One minute Tiffany was at the altar, the next her mum was in an ambulance. Was the wedding that bad?
Shivering in my coat, I huddled up to my partner Glenn.
We were on holiday in Finland and had decided to spend our last night at an ice hotel.
Standing underneath a huge ice carving of Cupid, Glenn dropped to one knee.
‘Tiffany, will you marry me?’ he asked.
‘Yes!’ I squealed.
We planned to tie the knot in a beautiful country manor hotel in September 2020.
My mum Jeanne, 88, was so excited for us.
‘You’re going to look so beautiful walking down the aisle,’ she said wistfully.
Nothing could hamper our joy.
When lockdown was announced in March 2020, we remained positive.
‘September’s ages away,’ I told Glenn confidently.
Then, browsing Facebook, I saw a post that made my heart sink.
‘Glenn, look at this,’ I said. ‘Our venue’s been sold — they’re not hosting weddings any more.’
‘What are we going to do?’ he fretted.
Not to be deterred, we booked a second, smaller country hotel.
But just six weeks before our big day, we were dealt another blow.
‘I’m sorry,’ the manager said. ‘We’ve had to close down because of the pandemic.’
‘Now what?’ I asked Glenn. ‘Should we cancel our big day?’
Mum was devastated for us.
She wasn’t getting any younger and was desperate to see us get hitched.
In the end, I called one of our local pubs, The Farrier in Cayton, Scarborough.
It may not have been a posh manor, but it was beautiful.
They had availability on the day and were happy to have us.
Our wedding could go ahead, with a seriously condensed guest list.
The night before our wedding, I stayed at Mum’s.
It was so lovely having some special mother-daughter time before I walked down the aisle.
The next morning, we got ready, along with my daughters Katie and Becky.
Only, there was a problem.
My hairdresser had fallen ill and had to pull out at the last minute.
But the girls sprang into action, and before I knew it, they’d styled my hair perfectly.
‘What else could go wrong?’ I laughed nervously to Mum.
‘It’ll all be fine,’ she told me.
Our ceremony went off without a hitch and, as I said my vows, I couldn’t help thinking how lucky I was.
Afterwards, we all sat down to a delicious meal.
I polished off the last of my fish and chips and turned to Mum.
‘Are you OK?’ I asked, seeing her pale face. ‘You look really tired.’
Mum had hardly slept a wink the night before, she’d been so excited about the wedding.
‘Go home if you need to,’ I added. ‘Glenn and I won’t mind.’
Then, all of a sudden, Mum slumped over on to the table.
‘Mum!’ I cried out, giving her a shake.
Mum’s eyes were open, but she wasn’t reacting to anything and her head was hanging down over her chest.
‘I think she’s had a stroke!’ I cried. ‘Someone call an ambulance!’
Minutes later, we heard sirens and paramedics came rushing in.
They checked her over, then turned to me.
‘We don’t think she’s had a stroke, but she’ll need to go to hospital,’ they said.
Because of COVID-19 restrictions, I wasn’t allowed to go with her.
Thankfully, by the time they got her in the ambulance, she’d come round and was chatting away.
‘We’ll call you when we know more,’ the paramedics told me, before driving away.
Feeling helpless, I went back inside.
We were supposed to be enjoying our desserts, but no one wanted to carry on. We were all so worried about Mum.
‘She’s not going to die, is she?’ Becky asked me.
‘I’m sure she’ll be OK,’ I said, sounding more confident than I felt.
An hour later, the hospital phoned.
‘Your mum’s fine,’ they assured me. ‘She had a major fainting spell, nothing more. You can come and collect her.’
I’d never been so relieved.
Doctors put Mum’s fainting down to exhaustion.
Clearly, I hadn’t been the only one feeling the stress of wedding planning!
When I picked Mum up, she felt awful.
‘I can’t believe I upstaged the bride,’ she moaned.
Back at the pub, everyone was so glad to see her.
We all sat down to dessert with a couple of drinks, before having a dance.
At the end of the night, Mum kissed me goodnight.
‘I’m so sorry I ruined your wedding,’ she apologised.
‘You didn’t ruin it,’ I smiled.
If anything, she’d made sure my wedding really was a day I’d never forget.
From Tiffany Hodgson, 52, of Scarborough, North Yorkshire