Woman's wedded bliss a year after marrying herself

Sarah Wilkinson took herself out to dinner, relaxing between courses to read a book, as part of her first wedding anniversary celebrations

A woman who gave herself a dream wedding after not finding the right partner has celebrated her first anniversary with fizz, flowers and a steak dinner-for-one.

Sarah Wilkinson, 43, held the wedding ceremony at the Grade II-listed Harvest House in Felixstowe, Suffolk, on 30 September 2023.

A celebrant friend conducted the unofficial service in front of 40 close friends and family, followed by an evening "do" with more friends.

Ms Wilkinson said the celebration was designed to show "I'm OK as I am; you don't necessarily need someone to complete yourself".

She organised her dream wedding a year ago, marrying herself in an unofficial ceremony

"I'm not saying no to finding anybody, if that happens and it's great and lovely, then wonderful, and if it doesn't happen, that's going to be OK too," she said.

She went ahead with the £10,000 celebration because "you're pre-programmed to want the husband, the house, the 2.4 children, but life doesn't always work out like that and it's still nice to have the day".

Ms Wilkinson marked the anniversary by sending herself "a bunch of 12 rainbow roses and a bottle of bubbly".

"It's always nice to collect a gift at work and walk through the office with a massive bunch of flowers," she said.

"I went out for a meal by myself, a table-for-one, a nice steak dinner and my anniversary cards on the table opposite me, and in between courses I relaxed and read my book."

The anniversary celebrations began when she sent a bunch of rainbow roses and a bottle of sparkling wine to herself at work

Ms Wilkinson was taken aback by the scale of interest shown in her wedding around the world - but has also taken care not to read people's reactions online.

She said: "Some people can be really quite rude and offensive, so a couple of friends logged on and sent me the best bits; I just don't look at the bad stuff."

And have there been any marital spats during the course of the first year?

"I did break a couple of vows," she said.

"I did vow I wouldn't run out of loo roll and milk and I've run out of both at least once, so I need to address that."