Wedding planning can be stressful and time consuming, especially as the big day draws near. But in the preliminary stages, when you’re discussing high-level details, before you have too many irons in the fire, it can be rather sweet. That’s what one couple thought when they settled on December 17, as their official wedding date.
The day held significance for them as it was the anniversary of the day they first met in person. Sadly, their plans went awry because one part of the couple was still legally married to someone else.
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Charlene Smith, 41, and her partner David Lee Broster, 57, wanted to exchange vows on December 17, 2024, the Mirror reported. But this wasn’t the first date they had selected. The couple planned to wed in September 2023, but they learned there was a piece of paper preventing their dream wedding from happening.
David was married before, from 1992 to 1999. In order to marry again, he would need to produce a decree absolute or official divorce document. But when Charlene attempted to look for it, she was told it didn’t exist.
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Charlene did all of the digging to find the divorce decree. “I sent a search off down to London to the main archives”, Charlene, from Wallasey, Merseyside, England, told The Echo. “That returned no results, so I then sent a search off for them through a private company. They came back with the result that his decree absolute had been refused.”
Unsatisfied by this answer, Charlene did some more digging. She contacted the court. It confirmed the decree was refused. The decree may have been refused due to a paperwork issue in the 1990s. Either way, David thought he was divorced for over two decades.
After the setback last year, David and Charlene began working on the decree so they could have it in time for December 17, the day they had their first date, five years ago. A decree absolute shows that David’s first marriage has legally ended as of December 11, 2024.
Sadly, it arrived past the cut off time for the couple to tie the knot this month. They are still going to have a celebration of their commitment on that day, but they won’t be able to legally marry until 2025. They plan for it to be just the two of them on the official day. “It is heartbreaking not to have the wedding,” Charlene said.
This is not the first obstacle the couple has had to overcome together. “We’ve been through so much,” Charlene said. “Not long after we got together it was lockdown. I’m a carer and I had to shield, It was really difficult. Lee was great, he’d go out to do the shopping. He was fantastic with that. With my children, he’s been really, really supportive.”
While this news was crushing, hopefully, the couple won’t be met with any more surprises in 2025.
