A couple has finally tied the knot after 25 years together in a “spontaneous” wedding – filmed on their teenage daughter’s iPhone.
Sara has been with her partner Michael Bairstow since 1999, going on to buy a home and welcoming daughter Mia, 17, together.
But one major thing they never got round to ticking off together was getting married, with neither of them enjoying the spotlight enough to plan a big wedding.
READ MORE: ‘We quit Britain to travel the world with our two kids – a year later, we’ve saved £15,000’
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It was only when they considered the financial implications if something happened to one of them that they decided it was finally time.
“We never seriously considered getting married so didn’t even think about getting engaged,” Sara, a 55-year-old stay-at-home mum from Rayleigh, Essex,
told What’s The Jam.
“Neither of us enjoy being the centre of attention and the thought of planning a big – or even small – wedding and spending lots of money we didn’t really have, wasn’t something we yearned to do.
“Our friends and family treated us as if we were married and not being didn’t really have any impact on us.
“People stopped asking us when we were going to tie the knot after we had our daughter – I guess they felt that having a baby had cemented our relationship.
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“It wasn’t until a friend asked us what we’d do if something happened to one of us that we realised being unmarried could impact us financially in the future with regards to inheritance tax and passing on our home and pensions.
“[It was] a rather unromantic reason to be thinking about a wedding, but there you are!”
Sara and Michael, 53, who is set to retire early from his role as a management accountant, had visited Walt Disney World in Florida with Mia several times over the years, and kept returning to the US state for holidays ever since – spending “pretty much all our spare money” on the trips.
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They collected Virgin points to try and cut the costs of flights and when Sara researched online, she found another couple who had wed near Disney at a court house in Kissimmee.
She said: “They mentioned they didn’t need witnesses, didn’t need to make a big fuss and it was easy to arrange.
“I did some investigations, contacted the Courthouse and found that it was indeed very easy to arrange and would be legally recognised in the UK.
“This sounded perfect for us!
“We could combine the wedding with another holiday to our favourite place.”
She checked her Virgin Red points balance and had hit the target needed to book them free flights to Florida.
Sara said: “We spoke to our daughter about our plans and she was so excited – about the wedding, but mostly about the holiday!”
The family jetted to the US in August 2023, opting for a “spontaneous” and “informal” courthouse celebration.
Sara said: “The main thing I remember about our wedding day was just how laid back it was.
“I drove over to Kissimmee from Disney, parked in a multi-story car park and we walked over the street to a big office building where we had to put our bags through scanners, were directed to the floor where marriages took place and took a ticket – like at a cheese counter – to wait to speak to the officiant.
“After we’d signed some forms, we were directed into a room where the wedding would take place.
“The officiant came in and asked if we had rings to exchange or vows we wanted to make – we hadn’t bothered with either!
“The officiant laughed and said we’d just do the standard ceremony then.
“Our daughter filmed this on my iPhone.
“Five minutes later we were married!
“Again, seemingly unromantic, but perfect for us.”
The trio celebrated at a local Cuban café, where they had breakfast and coffee, before taking a few pictures to mark the occasion.
Then, off they headed for an afternoon at the Magic Kingdom.
Sara added: “It was the perfect end to a perfect day.”
Now, despite being together for nearly three decades, this summer they will be celebrating their third wedding anniversary as they approach retirement.
Sara said: “Being married doesn’t feel any different really, we were already a close-knit family and had clearly committed to each other.
“It just gives us that little bit of extra financial security in the eyes of the tax man.
“Looking back on the wedding overall we all think it’s so funny that we spontaneously decided to just get it done as part of our holiday and how down to earth the whole thing was compared to other people’s weddings.
“When we tell people how we went about it, those who don’t know us well can’t understand why we didn’t want a big day with all the trimmings while our closest friends and family tell us it seems just perfect.”
