First Dates couple get married after groom is given five years left to live

A couple who fell in love after meeting on Channel 4’s First Dates decided to bring their wedding forward after the groom was given just five years to live. You can see a snippet from the time they met here:

Zoe Welch met Mike Sumner in March 2020 after the pair were matched up on the hit dating show - with Zoe impressing her date by downing a pint. She seems like a woman after my own heart.

Sadly, Mike has Motor Neuron Disease (MND) - a condition in which the nerves in the brain gradually stop working - and has been told he has just five years to live.

After meeting up after the show and hitting it off, Mike and Zoe decided they didn’t want to waste any time in getting hitched and arranged their intimate wedding ceremony in just three months.

Speaking to the Sun Zoe said as the couple don’t know how much time they have together they wanted to do it ‘sooner rather than later’.

Channel 4/First Dates

So, in August, the couple married in a relative’s garden surrounded by their nearest and dearest before heading off on a mini-moon in York.

She said: “We wanted to have a non-traditional wedding and had just 20 people in the garden.

"It was such a special day. I helped Mike get ready and then went off to get ready, so my outfit was a surprise to him when he saw me.

"On our first date I downed a pint of beer so we recreated that moment, but I did it with squash as I'd already had a few drinks."

After meeting on the show, the pair stayed in touch as friends and were both devastated in November 2020 when Mike was diagnosed with MND.

SWNS

They met up again for the first time since appearing on First Dates in June 2021 and continued to meet up as friends, until September 2021 when they realised they had romantic feelings for one another.

“From that day on we became a couple and vowed to live each day to its fullest - taking mini-breaks away, getting out in the sunshine and generally seizing the moment,” Zoe said.

Now happily married and looking forward to a honeymoon in Italy next year, the couple say they’re very glad they went on the show.

Zoe added: "I'm so glad we went on First Dates. "We each thought we'd just go on it for fun, and the fact we found someone we got on with is amazing.

"We have no regrets."

Topics: TV And Film, Sex and Relationships, Wedding

Claire Reid

Claire is a journalist at Tyla who, after dossing around for a few years, went to Liverpool John Moores University. She graduated with a degree in Journalism and a whole load of debt. When not writing words in exchange for money she is usually at home watching serial killer documentaries surrounded by cats.