A couple will today (Fri) marry for the second time – in exactly the same place and at exactly the same time as they did 16 years ago.
Stephen Tarr, 52, and wife-to-be Sue, 62, originally got hitched on Friday August 19, 2000 at 10am.
The couple separated in 2004, but started seeing each other again at the end of June this year, before instantly falling back in love with each other and deciding to remarry in a whirlwind seven days.
Despite almost a decade apart, the pair still remained friends after their divorce and would fleetingly catch up with each other from time-to-time.
But it wasn’t until Stephen returned to the house where he had spent his married life did they rekindle their feelings for each other.
Stephen, a tree surgeon and tree artist, said: “We met up because I had carved a wooden chair with two hearts on it.
“I thought I would send a picture to Sue and she loved it so I said I would take it round for her.
“It was the first time in 11 and a half years that I had gone to her house.
“We were sat out in the garden nattering away and I asked her if she had eaten yet and she said she hadn’t so we went for a bite to eat.
“It was like nothing had changed, so I asked her if she would like to come to York with me for the day and she said yes.
“We had a thoroughly good time in York, so I asked her if she would like to come to Whitby with me for old times’ sake as that’s where we first got married.
“We walked down the end of the pier in Whitby and Sue said this is where you proposed to me last time.
“I said yes it was and got down on one knee and asked her to marry me again.
“We rang Whitby registry office and they said there was one day available in August and it was the 19th at 10am – the same time and date as last time and it was a Friday.
“I could not believe it, I would never have expected getting married again on the same day and time, it is unreal but I just love her to bits I really do.”
Stephen’s proposal on July 6 came exactly a week after they had reunited.
Sue, who has a grown-up son and daughter from a previous relationship, added: “It has been quite incredible.
“When he asked me out we revived our feelings for each other, but I never thought it would lead to anything.
“It wasn’t until we went to Whitby that we realised how much we wanted to be together.
“It’s like we have picked up exactly where we left off.”
Stephen and Sue, from South Elmsall, near Pontefract, West Yorks., married for the first time within hours of Stephen proposing on Whitby pier, North Yorks.
He said: “I proposed the first time at 2am on August 19, 2000 at the end of the pier. This time I got down on one knee and said ‘will you marry me’ and she said ‘yes of course I will’.”
Despite having only known each other for three or four weeks, they went to Whitby Registry Office, North Yorks., the next day to ask when the next free date was and were found out they could get married that morning at 10am.
Even though the couple have been divorced for over a decade, Sue said she never took off her wedding and engagement ring.
She said: “I’ve worn my engagement and wedding ring all these years and not taken them off.
“We went to the pier at 2am last night and Stephen took off the ring and proposed again, recreating what happened 16 years ago.
“Today I’ll take the ring off before the ceremony and he’ll put it back on.”
The couple’s marriage originally broke down as Stephen, who was adopted at birth, came to terms with finding his birth mother after 40 years of searching.
Sue said: “It was a big ordeal for Stephen.
“It broke my heart that we had to end it but it was the best decision at the time.”
While the couple went their own ways there was no other love interests in the intervening period.
Sue said: “There was never anyone else for either of us. We just knew we were meant to be together. I’ve never met anyone else like him.”
Stephen added: “We were made for each other, but it has not been an easy road.”
