FRIENDS and family gathered to watch a couple celebrate their very special day at the weekend but this was a day with a difference for it was the first wedding to be blessed at the Demelza House children’s hospice.

Phillippa Saunders, 38 and Dave Farrant, 50, exchanged their vows in the chapel of the hospice in Rook Lane, Bobbing, as the bride’s son, Daniel Warren, 12 is often cared for there.

As she walked down the aisle it was a day of mixed emotions as Daniel suffers from Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy and receives respite care at the hospice.

The condition is a life-threatening, muscle wasting disease and has already made him a wheelchair user.

His mum, now Mrs Farrant who has two other children, said: "Over the last four years Demelza has become a very special place to us with lots of good memories and great fun and quality time together.

"Daniel is totally looked after and if we go as a family we get spoilt.

"As we have been married before, we came up with the idea to give a little back to them for all the good times they have given us."

The newlyweds held a reception at the Hilton Hotel, Maidstone, afterwards and flew out to Tenerife that evening on their honeymoon.

"We believe we are the first people in the country to have a wedding blessing in such a place," Mrs Farrant added.

Daniel has been visiting Delemlza for five years and lives in Eastbourne, so it involves a round trip of about 100 miles.