One woman said that because of her disability she was unable to have the wedding of her dreams and that she was “really upset”.

For transportation reasons, Sarah Tunnicliffe, 41, may have to travel 40 minutes to her big day in a wheelchair and her dress or take a public bus.

She said she was at a dead end due to the lack of availability of accessible wedding cars and the cost of renting wheelchair-accessible vehicles.

Sarah was diagnosed with limb-girdle muscular dystrophy, a progressive muscle disease, at age 16 and lost the ability to walk by her late 30s.

“It’s sad. It’s disappointing. It’s just mentally exhausting… being busy problem-solving all the time,” said Sarah from Cardiff.

After her diagnosis, she said that at just 16 years old, her biggest goal was to get married before she could no longer walk.

“It was really important to me … as time went on, I thought, ‘This is getting harder and harder,'” she said.

“Dreams of walking down the aisle”

In her early 30s, after numerous falls and broken bones, she had to buy her first wheelchair and ruled out the idea of ​​ever getting married.

“I said, ‘That’s it, I’m not getting married now,'” she said.

“I kept dreaming of the big white flowing dress, of walking arm in arm down the aisle with my father… I was determined.”

When her fiancé Jamie proposed to her two years ago, she changed her mind, but has struggled with several problems since then.

As for getting to her wedding, Sarah said that since her wedding is only a month away, her two best options were to make the 40-minute journey in a wheelchair and her wedding dress or to take a public bus.

“Several ideas have been put forward as to how I could get there – but I question the legality of travelling along Newport Road (in Cardiff to the venue) in the back of an articulated lorry,” she joked.

She said her original plan was to drive her own accessible vehicle, although she had to sell it a few years ago for financial reasons.

However, she said she had found virtually no accessible wedding vehicles and her only option was to hire a generally accessible vehicle for at least three days for around £600 – just for the 10-minute journey.

“I’ve been disappointed so many times (with previous rentals) … I just don’t want to experience that kind of disappointment on my wedding day,” she said.

“I’d rather either go in my wheelchair, but everyone says ‘I can’t’ … or take the bus. It takes about 14 minutes, so it’s not that bad.”

Sarah said wheelchair users face these issues every day, whether it’s getting to a hospital appointment or taking their pet to the vet.

“I take things day by day, things are challenging … (but) I thought the wedding day would be different,” she said.

She said she also had a dream about a child going out with a group of friends to try on wedding dresses.

“That just won’t happen to me,” she said.

“In some ways it’s really annoying… it was something I always dreamed of.”

She said most bridal shops are either upstairs, have stairs, or are quite small and “boutique-like.”

“My chair is quite large and cumbersome, but on the other hand, I can no longer stand, so I can’t ‘step into a dress,'” she said.

“I know planning a wedding isn’t supposed to be easy and straightforward…but I’m so tired. It’s so daunting.

“There are certain things I didn’t do because I didn’t have the energy to do them, like getting a cake.”

“Nothing will stop me”

But despite the challenges, Sarah is sure that she will have a “most wonderful” day.

She said that after realising “I can’t have the dress or the car”, the most important thing to her was the venue, which she secured at the Royal Welsh College of Music & Drama in Cardiff.

“At least it can be in a nice place… I love dancing, so I have my DJ, I have a venue and I have food,” she said.

“I love (Jamie) more than anything… and I just want to celebrate with him and everyone else.

“Nothing will stop me. Nothing will stop me.”