Shawn Elsmore and Charlie Nicholson wed. Photo / Michael Craig
It may have only been for a day but Charlie Elsmore forgot about the bad news. Instead, the 38-year-old mum-to-be married her soulmate, Shawn Elsmore.
"We laugh together and we love together so it is fitting we should be married," Charlie said.
The couple had their world shattered just days before when Charlie was diagnosed with an aggressive cancer.
Yesterday they put that aside as they exchanged vows in front of 60 friends and family members in the chapel at Auckland City Hospital.
Holding hands at the altar, Charlie and Shawn spoke of unconditional love, support and respect.
The wedding was everything Charlie could have asked for. "It was impromptu as you can tell but it felt like the right thing to do." And it was a reprieve from the weeks of awful news.
Two weeks ago, the expectant mother, now 31 weeks pregnant, was diagnosed with late-stage metastatic melanoma after noticing a pair of moles "pop up" on her chest.
The results returned bad news a week later and although her unborn baby was unaffected, further tests on Monday revealed the cancer had spread to Charlie's organs.
Then on Wednesday she was flown from her Gisborne home to the hospital - Shawn popped the question at her bedside.
"I always thought she didn't want to get married, but ... " Shawn said.
"He proposed and I just couldn't say no," Charlie laughed.
Then came Thursday and another round of news. Charlie would need to deliver her unborn child, Ryder Michael - fittingly named because he is on the journey with his parents - next week then fly to Australia for immediate treatment.
"It was devastating. It is just the worst news you could ever possibly get," Charlie said.
"We just had the perfect little life going and just in a heartbeat that was shattered," Shawn said. "Now we are just on a long journey of something that is not very nice."
Charlie considered calling the wedding off after her doctor "gave it to me straight". But the Gisborne couple decided a shotgun wedding was exactly what they needed to help them get through.
"We had too much negative information put to us, too many days in a row and we just needed something positive and it was beyond what we could have ever imagined," Shawn said.
The wedding has given Charlie hope and she is positive about the future. "With everything good that has been happening, I can't help but feel an amazing force of positivity so I am just going to keep striding."
The couple were last night hosting a reception at SkyCity casino before a honeymoon weekend at the Langham Hotel - a gift from their midwife Kerrie Walser.
"There's a pool on the rooftop with my name on it," said Charlie.
A Givealittle page set up by a family friend has raised more than $10,000. Charlie begins treatment in the coming weeks.
It's clear what it looks like, but do first impressions ring true?