England lockdown: ICU worker's wedding cancelled
A woman who works in intensive care with coronavirus patients has said she is sad her wedding has been cancelled due to the national lockdown, but she knows how terrible the virus is.
By Charley AdamsBBC News Amy Norton, from Bideford in Devon, was due to get married on 20 November. Looking forward to the wedding had kept her and her family going through the previous lockdown, she said. Under the new rules, weddings are not allowed to take place, apart from in exceptional circumstances. The 27-year-old healthcare assistant said she heard the lockdown announcement when she was at work at North Devon District Hospital where at the time the unit she was working in "didn't have any coronavirus patients". But, knowing how "terrible" the virus was, Ms Norton said she was not "too unhappy" about the cancelled wedding as she knew what other people would be going through. During lockdown there were issues when the wedding venue initially cancelled and then reconfirmed their booking and the couple had to reduce their guests to 30 and then 15 as restrictions changed over the summer. She said her partner, Matthew Lee, was "upset" about the situation on Sunday "because it keeps changing". The couple have elderly and vulnerable relatives who they wanted at the ceremony. "I know it's a terrible time and everyone is going through their own stuff... we just want them to be there on the day" she added. She said they were not sure what the next plan was, but after lockdown they would try to get married and have a party at a later date. "We've spoken to all of our family and they've all said they just want us to be married now - they don't really mind who's there and who's not there."