Bride is widowed within two hours

EVERY detail of Paul and Lotty Merry's silver and purple themed wedding was planned to perfection over 22 months.

After 11 years together no expense was spared to ensure a magical day.

Frewen College at Northiam was booked for the service. Lotty's dress was a stunning Duchess silver satin gown.

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A marquee in the field at the bottom of their garden was filled with purple and silver balloons and floral arrangements. A beautifully decorated three-tier cake was ready and 150 guests on their way from all over the country.

But the day before the big event, and on businessman Paul's 53rd birthday, tragedy struck. Paul, who had been diagnosed with terminal cancer in March, was taken into hospital.

And on Friday, two hours before he died, Paul and Lotty were married in a room in Baird Ward, at the Conquest Hospital, Hastings, he in his pyjamas, she in jeans and t-shirt.

"All the planning did not matter," said Lotty, from her home in Ninfield on Tuesday. "I did not even have my ring."

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Friends, family, and wedding organisers pulled together to ensure Lotty, who was fiancee, wife and widow in a few short hours, coped with the shock and sadness.

Paul, former managing director of Woodcut Trading Company in Sidley, had spent his last few months making sure his family and Lotty would be well provided for when he died.

And he was determined the wedding and month-long honeymoon would go ahead, and that he would drink champagne to his new bride.

"Paul was taken into hospital in the early hours of Friday morning," said Lotty, 31, a stable owner. "I could not leave his side. When he went down for a scan the doctors spoke to me.

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"The plan had been his pain would be sorted and he could rest up overnight and even if he could only come out for a few hours in a wheelchair, the wedding would go ahead the next day. Paul was determined.

"Instead the doctors suggested sensitively that we could perhaps have a blessing the next day, but should be married straight away."

Paul's children Christopher and Susie were called, as was the registrar and the wedding party summoned from home.

"I did not hesitate. The staff at Baird Ward were wonderful. I could not have done it without them.

"We exchanged vows in a little room with borrowed flowers."