Disabled bride may have to take bus to her wedding

Sarah Tunnicliffe decided she would never get married after she lost the ability to walk, before she met her fiance, Jamie Clark

A woman has said being unable to have her dream wedding as a result of her disability is "really upsetting".

Due to transport issues, Sarah Tunnicliffe, 41, may have to travel 40 minutes in her wheelchair to her big day on 30 August, wearing her dress, or use a public bus.

She said the lack of availability of accessible wedding cars and the cost of renting wheelchair friendly vehicles meant she was stuck.

Sarah was diagnosed with limb-girdle muscular dystrophy, a progressive muscle disease, when she was 16, and lost the ability to walk in her late 30s.

“It's sad. It's disappointing. It's just mentally exhausting… constant problem solving all the time,” said Sarah, from Cardiff.

After her diagnosis, she said her main goal, at just 16, was to get married before she was no longer able to walk.

"It was really important to me… as time went on I thought ‘well this is going to get harder and harder’," she said.

'Dreams of walking down the aisle'

In her early 30s, when a number of falls and broken bones meant she had to purchase her first wheelchair, she ruled out ever tying the knot.

"I said ‘that's it, I'm not getting married now’," she said.

"I've had all these dreams about the big white flowy dress, walking down the aisle arm in arm with my father… I was adamant."

Sarah and Jamie got engaged at Christmas after being together for 10 years - after Jamie hid the ring in an Olly Murs CD

However, after a proposal from her fiance Jamie two years ago, she had a change of heart, but has encountered several problems since.

As for transport to her wedding, Sarah said the two best options for her - with her wedding only a month away - is travelling the 40-minute journey in her chair and wedding dress – or taking a public bus.

"Several ideas have been floated about how I could get there - but the legalities of traveling down Newport Road (in Cardiff to the venue) on the back of a tractor trailer I think are questionable," she joked.

Why is it so difficult for Sarah to get transport?

Her initial plan was to drive herself in her own accessible vehicle, although she had to sell it a few years ago for financial reasons.

But she said she has found next to no accessible wedding vehicles, with her only option renting a general accessible vehicle for a minimum of three days for about £600 - for just the 10-minute drive.

“There's just been so many times where I've been let down [with previous rentals]… I just don't want that disappointment on my wedding day,” she said.

“I'd rather either go on my chair, but everyone says 'you can't do that'… or the bus, it's about 14 minutes so it’s not that bad."

Sarah has considered getting a taxi to her wedding, but due to the size of her wheelchair, has to partially dismantle it, against the advice of her doctors, to just about fit in them – and that’s without a wedding dress.

“I got stuck in the taxi at my sister's wedding. I was a bridesmaid… they had to lift me out,” she said.

Sarah said these are problems that happen every day for wheelchair users, whether it's her attempting to get to a hospital appointment or taking her pet to the vet.

“I accept things on a day to day basis, things are challenging… [but] I thought the wedding day would be different,” she said.

Sarah says her hen party was "absolutely fantastic"

She said another thing she dreamed of was a child was going out with a group of friends to try on wedding dresses.

“That’s just not going to happen for me,” she said.

“In some ways that is really upsetting… it was something that I always dreamed of.”

She said a majority of bridal shops are either upstairs, have stairs or are quite small and “boutiquey”.

“My chair is quite big and bulky, but equally, I can't stand anymore, so I can't ‘step into a dress’," she said.

“I know that planning a wedding is not supposed to be easy and plain sailing… but I'm so tired. It's so disheartening.

“There's certain things that I've not done because I don't have the energy to spend in it, like getting a cake.”

'Nothing's gonna stop me'

However, despite the challenges, Sarah said she is certain she is going to have the “most amazing” day.

She said after realising “I can't have the dress, I'm not having the car”, the main thing for her was the venue, which she secured in Cardiff’s Royal Welsh College of Music & Drama.

“At least it can be set in a beautiful place… I love dancing, so I've got my DJ, and I've got a venue, and I've got food," she said.

“I love [Jamie] to bits… and I just want to celebrate that with him and everybody else.

“Nothing's gonna stop me. Nothing's going to put a downer on it.”