My teenage maternity wedding

by Paige
(Southampton)

I was a teenage maternity bride, but we've beaten the odds and we are still together 15 years later!

It all started in September 1994 when I met David. I fell for him straightaway when I met him at college! Pretty soon we were inseparable and our relationship progressed as thse things do ...

Hardly a day passed when we didn't see each other ... we were soul mates then and luckily we still are today.

We did all the normal things that teens do when they are dating ... going out to eat, enjoying hanging out with friends, and spending time in our respective digs. By Christmas we were CRAZY in LOVE! But we didn't want to jinx things ... we were only 18 so talking about getting married seemed like something for way into the future. We had tough courses we were each committed to and both had big career plans.

But fate had other plans for us and I fell pregnant (we WERE using contraception!!!) It took me a long time to get my head together and talk to my folks ... but once I did they were brilliant and so were David's parents (eventually). Actually they were all thrilled about being Grandparents and were generous in offers of help to make sure I could get back to college after the baby came.

With our baby due in late July '95, we decided to have a small family wedding at Easter, which was quite stressful to organise!

My mother was great, which was lucky because I was in a bit of a haze about the whole thing ... I really don't remember everything that went on after I found out I was pregnant ... I really did suffer from 'Pregnancy brain'

We has a lovely civil wedding on April 15,1995 with me in a simple white cotton sundress and David in a smart suit he still owns! And Lizzie arrived 3 weeks premature on July 4th. Then, although it was desperately hard, I started straight back at college in September, eventually graduating with honours! I was determined not to be a teenage pregnancy drop out.

We had tons of help from both of our families and couldn't have managed as we did without them. But we also worked like dogs to provide for Lizzie during those early years. Maybe it's that shared hardship that has kept us together and strong ... 3 more kids later!

Friends often ask would you have changed anything? Didn't you miss out on a lot? Do you resent not having a 'normal' student life? My answer is always the same. I wouldn't change a thing if I could have my time over again. I met my soulmate and have the most beautiful family. I didn't miss out on anything!!

I know that lots of teenage marriages don't work but we have MADE it work. It's not been easy, but it has all been worth it.