Today (Friday 19 June) should have been the day Leigh Kaniklides and John Tear married at Langtons in Hornchurch, with all their loved ones around them. However, the Covid-19 pandemic put paid to their plans and meant a very sad Leigh made her way into work instead.

Leigh, a discharge planner on Mandarin A ward, said: “We decided we’d both go to work as we didn’t want to sit at home and mope, but I felt very sad in the morning.

“However, when I got into work the girls on the ward had got me a veil to wear and made a big fuss of me. John’s team had also got me some flowers and arranged to have lunch delivered for us.”

Leigh and John, who also works as an A&E planner for our Trust, enjoyed kebab and chips together, before taking a humourous ‘wedding’ picture together, complete with Leigh’s veil and flowers.

Leigh, 35, said: “It ended up being a really nice day and it was so lovely that our colleagues did this for us. It really cheered us up and the picture made us laugh.”

The couple, who live in Renwick Road Barking with their cat Harry, have known each other for years having both worked for our Trust for over a decade. They got together three years ago after John, 42, asked Leigh out for a drink.

They’ve postponed their wedding until next September, a time when Leigh hopes they won’t have masks in their wedding pictures.

Having both worked throughout the pandemic, apart from spending a couple of weeks isolating at home when John had Covid-19, they will be taking next week off to spend some time together.

Leigh added: “We would have been going on our honeymoon in Turkey, however, we’ve had to postpone that too.

“We’ll be decorating our bathroom instead, as well as taking some time to chill out and be together.”