They should be here ~ when someone special can't be with you

How could anyone fail to be moved by the cancer research advertisment shown on UK tv last year. The beautiful haunting music of Eva Cassid's "fields of Gold" was accompanied by a series of people who have survived cancer saying "I shouldn't be here" and then you see the bride, standing before the mirror with a space over her sholder saying "My mum should be here". It's a real tear jurker and no matter how many times you've seen it, it's liable to cause a lump in your throat. You can feel the brides pain.

Sadly, circumstances can mean that people who are special to you may not be able to share your wedding day with you. The circumstances that keep them away can range from distance, military postings, ill health, financial or death.

There are various ways that you can go about bringing them into the wedding, besides holding them in your heart:

The first idea is to have a photograph of the missing person. You can stand it on the top table or next to the cake. People have even been known to have full size cardboard ciutout figures made.

Another idea is to have a web cam set up so that at sometime during the preceedings they can wish you well.

My own take on these sad situations is to use something belongong to the person who cannot be there.

My own grandparents were unable to be at the wedding of my sister and I took bits of their broken jewellery and turned them into the wedding jewellery.

I am also able to incorporate brooches, earrings etc into the tiaras that I create.

I now offer these services to anyone who wants to do this.