HAVING a son with a rare condition inspired a loved-up couple to ask family and friends for charity donations rather than gifts on their big day.
When Alcester couple Aaron and Kate Belcher tied the knot, the pair requested payments to the Make A Wish Foundation which helps severely ill children live their dreams, raising over £700.
Aaron said they thought about the alternative to the traditional gift list drawn up by brides and grooms after their experiences with two-year-old son Traviss. He was born with persistent hyperplastic primary vitreous which means he is permanently blind in one eye but for the first four months of his life it was feared he had cancer.
Tattoo artist Aaron, who runs shops in Alcester and Stratford, said he did not want to ask for anything from people, especially in the current economic climate.
“I just believe in giving to other people. This world is full of hate so it’s good to give something back.”
The pair, who also have a one-year-old daughter River-Inola, married at Arrow Mill Hotel before their reception at the Alcester Trades and Labour Club, where Aaron’s parents held their wedding reception.
The Belchers have been together just over five years and had a week at home with their children rather than jetting off for a honeymoon. Kate previously lived in Alcester and Aaron had seen her around and thought she was ‘absolutely gorgeous’ but had not plucked up the courage to speak to her.
But after sparking up a friendship over Facebook and then speaking on the phone for five hours non-stop, Aaron visited his mom – who was worried about him after his previous relationship had ended.
“The very next day after the five-hour phone call, I said to my mom I had met a girl I was going to marry and who was going to have my children.
“A couple of weeks went past and one night I was half asleep and grabbed my phone, rang Kate and told her I loved her and she said she felt the same.
“Soon after we met properly for the first time and I knew from that very moment she was going to be my wife.
“I never believed in that sort of thing. I thought I was in love before but I’ve now realised I wasn’t.”
