Woman has nans as bridesmaids after Covid rules hit wedding

When Megan Kennedy and Thomas Cahoon got engaged, they got straight into planning a big wedding.

They sent out the invites, excitedly booked red buses to take their guests to the venue and Megan picked her bridesmaids. All ten of them.

But coronavirus meant they had to postpone the celebration - and eventually invited just 15 guests.

So Megan scrapped her original plans and had her two nans - aged 80 and 90 - as bridesmaids instead.

When she first asked them, they said it was "a bit stupid".

"They were like, 'we're too old to bridesmaids'", Megan told Radio 1 Newsbeat.

"They were flattered but they just thought it was ridiculous."

80-year-old Gillian walked down the aisle with her bouquet

Megan's bridal party was originally made up of a mix of family and friends.

But when numbers had to be cut down so drastically, she felt she couldn't choose - "it was all or nothing".

"When we realised we would have to cut it down to only 15 guests altogether, and I realised I didn't even have space for my best friend, my Maid of Honour, it just didn't make sense."

Gillian Holloway, 80, and 90-year-old Mary Kennedy travelled to London for the wedding in October.

It was the first time they'd got out their homes to do anything "properly social" since last March.

"If they're going to come, we wanted to make it as special as we could for them," Megan said.

The bridesmaids didn't wear matching dresses, but they did have bouquets and walked down the aisle together.

"It just felt like the right thing to do, to make them feel special"

Pictures of Megan and her nans got lots of attention when she posted them on social media but she said her grandparents "don't really get it."

"If we tell them they've got 5000 likes on a wedding blog, they're just like, 'who are the people liking it?'

"They have no concept of how many people have seen their picture."

The Belfast Telegraph printed the story, which Megan thinks might make Gillian and Mary a little more excited than the Instagram likes. She is sending them copies of the paper.

"They think the whole thing's crazy, but it's been such a nice boost for them."

Megan and Thomas plan to have a big wedding reception at the end of this year.

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