Last updated at 14:41, Friday, 06 June 2008

Many of us choose to communicate via email or text these days rather than put pen to paper, but for Rory Shoemaker and Caroline Twentyman writing letters to each other is a crucial way of keeping in touch.

Title
Author
Copyright

Description

In March 2003, Caroline, a nurse at the Royal Victoria Infirmary in Newcastle, replied to a request for single nurses to write to soldiers serving in Iraq.

Rory was with the Black Watch at the time and the pair started writing regularly to each other.

Five months later, while Rory was on leave after his six-month tour, they decided to meet up.

Caroline, 28, originally from Wigton, said: “We wrote about what we did every day and I looked forward to receiving his letters. I was quite nervous before we met, but we got on really well as we had got to know each other through our letters.”

Rory, 33, from Edinburgh, was based in Germany at the time and they met on the quay-side in Newcastle in August 2003.

The couple continued to write to each other as well as speaking on the phone and their relationship blossomed.

It was during a romantic break in Edinburgh in May 2004 that Rory popped the question. “It was at 1pm when the guns are fired from Edinburgh Castle,” said Caroline. “I was completely swept off my feet.”

Rory is now a sergeant and comes home to their Forest Hall home in Newcastle twice a month.

The couple set the date of the wedding for September 8, 2007 and Caroline was keen to return to Cumbria for a church wedding.

They chose Bromfield Church, near Wigton, and after looking around a lot of venues they decided to hold the reception at Hundith Hill Hotel near Cockermouth.

“We wanted it to be relaxed and traditional,” said Caroline. “I looked around several wedding dress shops but decided to keep things as local as possible.”

She found the perfect dress in I Do in Cockermouth and Rory, his best man Paul McCafrey and the ushers Martin Hall and Lee Sales wore the ‘City Tartan’, which they chose from the Kilt Shop in Galashiels. Caroline’s brother Paul Twentyman, who was also an usher, wore a morning suit from Tom Little Formal Hire, Maryport. The other men from Rory’s immediate family wore their own tartan kilts.

Caroline’s identical twin sister Louise was the chief bridesmaid and Elizabeth Davies was bridesmaid. They wore chocolate brown taffeta dresses while Rory’s niece Bethany Sales was flowergirl and wore a champagne dress.

Everything had been finalised, but then tragedy struck on the morning of the wedding day.

Three hours before the ceremony, Caroline’s 83-year-old grandmother Jean Flynn, who had been unwell, died.

“Although she hadn’t been well it was completely out of the blue,” said Caroline. “We were all distraught. I didn’t want to go through with the wedding.

“I put on a brave face though because she wouldn’t have wanted the day to be cancelled.”

The family banded together and Caroline says the day was as perfect as it could have been.

“Mum and dad were so strong,” she said. “My grandmother wouldn’t have wanted her death to have overshadowed the day and our families wanted to give our guests the best day possible.

“There were a lot of tears throughout the day though.”

The couple cancelled their honeymoon to Bali, but rearranged a holiday in Thailand for January.

First published at 21:26, Wednesday, 04 June 2008
Published by http://www.cumberlandnews.co.uk