A woman who was only just having a great time dancing at her bachelorette party three weeks to her wedding, ended up breaking her leg.
A woman has revealed how she broke her shin at her hen do – just three weeks before her big day.
Laura Pascoe, 26, an office worker from Bridgend, Wales, had to be wheeled down the aisle after snapping two bones in her shin while dancing on a podium at her hen party.
The bride-to-be had been partying with pals in a club called Popworld in Swansea when she took a tumble while attempting a squat move with one leg up on a podium bar.
She was raced to the city’s Morriston Hospital, where she underwent 45-minute emergency surgery to have plates and screws inserted in her left leg.
Doctors then broke the news that she’d need to wear a cast for the next five weeks – dashing her hopes of walking down the aisle on her wedding day the following month.
Laura, who is now married to husband Thomas Pascoe, 27, who works in scaffolding, said: “I said to the doctor, ‘I’m getting married in three weeks, will I be alright?’ But they told me no.
“Once everything sank in, I was absolutely devastated.
“You have such a vision for your wedding day, it’s something you plan and dream of for so long, and mine was ruined.
“I even considered postponing it, but Thomas and I figured it was best to go ahead, as at the end of the day, we’d still be getting married, which was all we wanted.”
The couple, who now have two children together – Grace, seven and Liam, five – have known each other since primary school.
But, they didn’t properly connect until years later, when Laura was 17 and Thomas joined the same rugby team as Laura’s brother Gavin.
Thomas had seen Laura around and wrote his number on a sticky note for Gavin to pass on.
The pair soon became an item and Laura became pregnant with Grace just two months into the relationship.
Little Liam was born two years after that, and, on Christmas Day 2015, Thomas popped the question.
When it came to their wedding plans, Laura decided that she didn’t want a raucous hen party – opting instead for a low-key night in with wine, a takeaway, and a handful of close friends.
But, when the day rolled round in May 2017, her pals surprised her with a night out, complete with a stripper and limo ride.
As Facebook was flooded with pictures of the celebrations the next morning, Laura began to fret in case some of her other friends saw and got upset that they hadn’t been invited.
So, to make sure everyone was involved in the festivities, she organised another hen party – a night out in Swansea – for July.
She said: “I didn’t want anything special, just a minibus into the city, a party then home with a kebab in tow.”
With drinks flowing, Laura and her friends were having a brilliant night – until the bride-to-be drunkenly attempted a squat dance move, and felt a shocking snap in her leg.
She continued: “At first my friends thought I’d just fallen over drunk and were telling me to stop being silly and get up, but they soon realised I was in pain.
“I just remember drifting in and out of consciousness while the girls tried to keep me awake.”
Taken out the nightclub in a wheelchair, Laura then went to hospital.
Upon waking the next morning, Laura didn’t initially remember what had happened.
She said: “I’d still been so drunk in the ambulance that I was chattering away, asking everyone their names. Then when I woke up, I didn’t have a dicky bird.
“I asked a nurse what’d happened, and he explained I’d broken both the bones in my shin, and chipped my ankle.
“At that point, Thomas came in. He took one look at me and went, ‘Only you, Laura.’”
Two days later, after her operation, Laura was allowed home with her leg in a cast but was left unable to put any weight on her broken limb.
With her wedding just weeks away, Laura had to face the fact that she wouldn’t be walking down the aisle, or enjoying her first dance – which she and Thomas had decided would be a fun routine to Gangnam Style – as planned.
But, determined to marry the man she loved, she went ahead regardless, tying the knot at Calfaria Baptist Church in Llangeinor.
Laura added: “I was wheeled down the aisle and, for the first dance, I sort of stood on one leg and swayed about to Ed Sheeran like an awkward 10-year-old dancing.
“It drove me nuts not being able to get up and dance the night away as I’d planned, but it was still a great day, and Thomas was brilliant.”
Able to have her cast removed six days after the wedding, Laura is now back on her feet – but feels very nervous when she’s out and about, in case she damages it again.
Though the couple are yet to go on their honeymoon, they’re settling into married life well.
Laura said: “I still can’t believe all this happened. I’d absolutely love to renew my vows one day, and do it all again as planned.”
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