A doctor and a nurse in London, UK, got married amid the coronavirus pandemic at the hospital where they work at in a “top secret” ceremony and now the pictures have gone viral.
Jann Tipping, 34, and Annalan Navaratnam, 30, had to cancel their original plans to wed in August. The couple feared that their families would not be able to travel to the UK from Northern Ireland and Sri Lanka for the big day.
Instead, they got married in April at a chapel in London's St Thomas' Hospital, where they work at and their families and friends attended the ceremony virtually.
"We wanted to have the ceremony while everyone was still healthy, even if it meant our loved ones having to watch us on a screen," Tipping was quoted as saying
"We wanted to make sure we could celebrate while we were all still able to. The chaplaincy team worked hard to get permission for us to be married, which we appreciated greatly at a time when so much was going on,” she added.
Navaratnam, is an acute medical registrar who has been working at St Thomas' for a year and Tipping is an ambulatory emergency nurse.
Photos from the wedding, which took place on April 24, were shared by the hospital on Twitter on May 26 when the news came to light. Social media users were instant fans of the duo and the way they chose to conduct their ceremony.
The pictures show the couple with an officiant and an empty venue.
According to news reports, Tipping described the ceremony as "beautiful" and said the experience of getting married at their place of work was "surreal".
"It was a lovely wedding and the chapel is beautiful, although it did feel surreal getting married where we work, and in a hospital," she was quoted as saying.
"Jann and I wanted to get married from the moment I proposed. We're so happy that we have been able to commit ourselves to one another and that the hospital has been able to support us to do that," Navaratnam added.
On May 28, the wedding photographer also chose to share the pictures of the ceremony after the news became public.
The ‘Rebecca Carpentry Photography’ page on Facebook wrote as part of a lengthy post: “A few weeks ago I photographed a top secret NHS wedding for a doctor and an emergency nurse. All socially distanced and married in the Guys St Thomas Church Hospital where they both work. The nurse just happens to be one of my dearest, best friends and this was my gift to them.”
Social media users were quick to react.
Facebook user Jack David Kilner-Johnson wrote: “Love knows no bounds. It's so great that were able to find the ultimate happiness of marriage at this horrible time.”
The UK has been on a strict lockdown since March 23 to curb the spread of COVID-19. The UK has reported over 272,826 cases so far.
