A First Dates contestant who found love with the woman he matched with on the show has married her – after being given just five years left to live. Mike Sumner, 38, who has Motor Neurone Disease, tied the knot with Zoe Welch, 31, in a relative's garden, in Silsden, Bradford, West Yorkshire. The pair - who met on Channel 4’s dating show First Dates in March 2020 and are remembered for Zoe’s impressive downing of a pint - planned their wedding in just three months after Mike's health started to deteriorate. The couple chose to have a small town hall ceremony at Sheffield Town Hall on 30th August 2022 followed by a wedding with their family on 17th September 2022 in a relative's back garden. Mike entered in a DeLorean car, from his favourite film Back to the Future, and Zoe downed a pint of squash - recreating the stand-out moment from their first date. Now happily married, the couple hope to cherish the time they have left together and have plans for a honeymoon in Italy next year. Mike, who was training to be a driving instructor before his diagnosis, originally from Grimsby, North East Lincolnshire, said: “It was surreal seeing Zoe walk down the aisle in her dress. "She looked amazing and the I got emotional at the ceremony. "It was fun turning up in the DeLorean car and seeing the guests' reactions." Zoe, a people manager at a bank, from Sheffield, South Yorkshire, said: “We wanted to have a non-traditional wedding and had just 20 people in the garden. "It was such a special day".
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