A 26-year-old man with Down’s syndrome has tied the knot with his 21-year-old sweetheart, who also suffers from the same condition.
Kieran Duffy proposed to the love of his life Emmie Houckham on Boxing Day 2016. And the two of them married each other in front of their loved ones.
Kieran and Emmie met for the first time at a camp for differently-abled people six years ago. A long time before they wed, the pair also lived together for a couple of months in Bearsted, Maidstone, Kent.
“They didn’t end up liking each other and so the wedding plans were put firmly on track,” Kieran’s mom Tessa Branch quipped.
Speaking to Kent Online, Tessa said the couple enjoys a ‘real’ relationship. She added how the couple planned each and every detail of their wedding, ranging from the songs to the table decorations.
They opted for the songs which really had some meaning for them, such as Make You Feel My Love by Adele and The Wonder of You by Elvis Presley.
The ceremony also had a reading of the song You’re The One That I Want, which brought joy and smiles to almost everyone present at All Saints Church in Staplehurst.
In addition to the traditional vows, the couple urged their guests to promise to “meet, speak to and laugh with strangers.”
Even though Kieran and Emmie face a number of challenges in their daily life, Tessa says the two of them make a perfect match.
“They really complement each other well,” said Tessa, who runs her own support service called Symbol. “Say if they go out to a restaurant they’ve not been to before, Kieran might struggle to read the menu, whereas Emmie would be able to do so fluently.
“But if they needed to ask for help, for example, Kieran has more confidence, so he wouldn’t be afraid to do that.”
Kieran works as a tutor in the Hop Shed theatre company in Maidstone.
Tessa believes that Kieran and Emmie are just like any other couple, having their own pros and cons. She said: “He [Kieran] adores Emmie but likes his own space at the same time, whereas she likes to be with him all the time.
“Sometimes he’ll ring me up and say ‘how do I get her to just go up to bed?’ or ‘how can I just get five minutes on my own?’ But you could argue that’s the case for an awful lot of couples.
“The biggest barrier for them is often other people telling them what they can’t do, but why can’t he have a stag do with a stripper all over him like everyone else?
“It’s fantastic because I think it really changes people’s attitude towards them. We’re all so proud and so happy.”
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