Coronavirus has left several couples across the country with no choice but to cancel their weddings.
But if that wasn't bad enough, one pair were forced to do so after getting their intended wedding date tattooed onto themselves. Yikes.
Francis Donald, 26, and Fionnuala Kearney, 24, had been so excited for their special day on October 16th 2020 that they decided to ink it on their skin.
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But when the Newcastle hotel they had booked told them they would have to postpone until 2021 due to social distancing guidelines, they realised they may have got the tatts a little prematurely.
Explaining the spontaneous moment they got their tattoos, Fionnuala said: "We were in Turkey and had checked out of our hotel at 9am, but had to wait until the evening for our flight home - so we decided to go on a bar crawl.
"We strolled past a tattoo salon and we were tipsy, so thought it was a great idea to get matching tattoos.
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"It's funny because we were being extra careful to make sure we got the roman numerals correct, and the staff were teasing us, saying: 'Are you sure that's the right date?'
"When I was told we would have to postpone the wedding I was devastated of course - but we only realised afterwards about our tattoos."
Putting on a brave face, she added: "If you don't laugh, you'll cry!"
Fionnuala and Francis met while studying at Ulster University together in 2015.
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They had been excitedly planning for their wedding for years - in fact, Fionnuala bought her dress back in 2018, and they'd already arranged the band and picked their guests.
"Of course, I had considered the virus and the effects it might have, but with our wedding being quite far away in October, I didn't think we would be affected," she said. "I was devastated."
The couple are now tying the knot in April 2021, and say they didn't even notice the tattoo error at first, because they were just so relieved they'd managed to sort a new date.
"It was a nightmare trying to reorganise a date which worked for our band, guests, the hotel, everything," she said.
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"I eventually had to pick a weekday, which wasn't ideal but there was no other choice."
She added: "We looked down at our arms one day and realised - they said the wrong date.
"I have a few small funny tattoos that I've got on drunken holidays, so I wasn't too fussed, but it was the cherry on top of the cake.
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"All you can do is laugh at situations like this!"
The tatts won't be in vein though, as the couple intend to mark their original wedding date in another way, so they are still significant.
Some friends have suggested a sky dive, while others have joked they should just lie about their wedding date if anyone asks.
"Whatever we do, we're going to make it memorable," Fionnuala said.
Fair play to these two for being such good sports!
Featured Image Credit: SWNSTopics: Life News, Real, Coronavirus