Coronavirus: Coventry paramedics win £10k wedding

Two paramedics who cancelled their wedding due to the coronavirus pandemic have won one worth £10,000 in a competition.

Megan Baker, 28, and Tristan Holmes, 31, will get married at Rugby School after about 100 couples entered a contest open to any NHS worker whose big day was called off due to Covid-19.

The pair found out they had won the day before their original May wedding date.

The couple will now get married on 18 February next year.

Their ceremony was cancelled when the lockdown started on 23 March.

But Mr Holmes said he was now looking forward to what he called "our dream wedding".

He was off work for three weeks in March with Covid-19 and his fiancée lost her sense of smell, which is one of the symptoms of coronavirus.

Ms Baker said: "Never in my wildest dreams did I expect to actually win."

The couple had been living in Gloucestershire, where their wedding should have taken place in a village hall in Painswick.

The paramedics, who work on the front line in Coventry, now live in Hinckley, Leicestershire.

Rugby School, which said the couple were chosen at random from a shortlist, said the £2,500 venue cost was part of the £10,000 prize pot.

It also includes £2,700 in catering for 50 guests, transport, cakes and a live band, with local businesses donating towards the prize.

Ms Baker will have a £500 voucher or a 50% discount for a bridal gown and suits for the groom and best man are included.

Mr Holmes said the generosity of the school and suppliers was "amazing".

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