80 Saturday June 11 2022 | the times
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‘She has her father’s eyes
and face shape but her
mother’s lips and nose’
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subscribersPIPPA SUZANNE DRACOTT WAS BORN ON MAY 28, 2020,
AT BROOMFIELD HOSPITAL IN CHELMSFORD, ESSEX,
TO CLAIRE, 30, AND GARY DRACOTT, 30Alex and Paul had carefully avoided
catching Covid. By the time of their
wedding in March this year, they
hardly gave the virus a thought. With
six days to go before their big day,
Alex started “feeling funny”. The next
day, she tested positive.
“I thought it would be fine,” she
says. “I’m such an optimistic person.”
Then Paul’s father got Covid, even
though they had not seen each other
for some time. The couple told their
suppliers and made the difficult
decision to postpone their wedding.
Then Paul tested positive on the same
day as his mother.
“I was heartbroken that we had to
tell everybody,” says Alex. “I
wondered, is this a sign? Are we
supposed to get married?” Their luck
turned when the venue offered them
another date a month later and their
suppliers were available. She took the
approach: “Let’s count our blessings.”
Alex and Paul met through a
mutual friend in 2013. They were
introduced via Facebook. She was in
her first year studying illustration at
the University of Portsmouth. Paul
was working as a warehouse
co-ordinator and living with his
parents in High Wycombe.
They were both nervous before
their first date. Alex was home from
‘We made sure
my mum was
part of our day’
university and staying with her
parents in Luton, where Paul picked
her up. They went to Winter
Wonderland, the Christmas fun fair
and festival in Hyde Park. It has since
become an annual trip for them.
They continued to message and see
more of one another as their
relationship became more serious. He
describes her as loving. “She takes my
feelings into consideration,” he says.
“She is always there for me.”
He helps to ground her. “I get
anxious quite easily,” she says. “He
knows how to bring me out of that.
He brings me back to earth.” She has
three younger siblings, and, on
graduating, looked for a flat to rent.
Then Paul, who is an only child,
suggested she move into his family
home. “It was very quiet and
relaxing,” she says. She got a job as a
graphic designer in Milton Keynes.
They went on one of their trips to
Winter Wonderland in 2017 and, on
returning to their London hotel that
evening, Paul proposed on one knee
with a ring. They bought a house in
Bedford in 2018, and adopted Pixel,
their first cat, who has since been
joined by Lynx. “I’m a bit more of the
crazy one,” says Alex. “I will dance
around, make up my weird songs and
talk to our cats. I feel like I bring out
the crazy side of Paul.”
In November 2020, Alex’s mother,
Jane, died unexpectedly from cancer.
“One second she was there and the
next second she was gone,” says Alex.
“Paul was such a big support. And he
was grieving as well. We both still
are.”She has a fond memory of being in
her second year of university and
talking to her mother about Paul who
was visiting her every weekend at
university. Her mother acknowledged:
“He really loves you.”
Over time Alex’s focus returned to
their wedding with a renewed energy.
“Let’s just do it,” she decided. “Life’s
for living.” She is grateful now that
Paul slowed her down and they did
not rush any decisions. They found
South Farm online and booked it
after a virtual tour because of Covid.
It is a working farm and wedding
venue on the border between
Cambridgeshire and Hertfordshire.
Alex made the invitations, table
plan, name cards and a welcome sign.
Paul helped to dye the table runners
in keeping with their jewel tone
colour scheme. In hindsight, she
would have started preparations
earlier. “There was stuff everywhere,”
he says. Her younger sister and best
friend were bridesmaids. He chose
not to have a best man. “I didn’t feel
like I needed one,” he says. “It would
just have been someone else to worry
about.”
They invited 53 guests to their 1pm
ceremony, which took place in a
summer house. As Alex was gettingMarriages and engagements
ready, her maternal grandmother
gave her a necklace with a four-leaf
clover that had passed down the
family line to Jane. Alex attached it to
her bouquet. “She was part of our
day,” she says. There was a table
at the venue dedicated to memories
of her.
Alex walked in with her father to
an instrumental version of Blackbird,
her favourite Beatles song. “I was just
so excited,” she says. “As soon as I saw
familiar faces I was so happy.” Paul
felt nervous. “When we’re separate, I
lose my coping mechanism,” he says.
The newlyweds walked out to the
Beatles’ Here Comes the Sun and had
their picture taken alongside some
pigs on the farm. Paul gave a speech
at the sit-down wedding breakfast and
spoke about Jane.
“I was so proud,” says Alex. “There
wasn’t a dry eye.”Paul and Alex, who met in 2013, had to postpone their wedding when they both
caught Covid. They were married on a working farm complete with pigs, leftIf you would like to feature a
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thetimes.co.uk/static/terms-and-conditionsNew readers
Grace was at a
mini-athletics
event with her
daughter, Mary,
2, when she felt
the first pangs of
labour. She took
one look at the
mums’ crawling
race and decided
that it was time to go to the hospital.
John is already a worldly baby —
four weeks after he was born he
attended a memorial dinner at the
pharmacology department at Oxford
University with the Uruguayan
ambassador, in memory of his
grandfather Robert, who he is named
after. His worldliness is partly thanks
to Mary, who has taken the big-sister
role in her stride and loves to show
him her power to make the traffic
move at her will when the lights go
green. John’s parents are excited to
take him to Mauritius, where they
went on their honeymoon.Like her older
brother Max,
Margot arrived
within hours of
their parents
parking at the
hospital. She was
born in the early
hours of her
mother’s
birthday, despite Katherine’s best
efforts to have her arrive earlier.
She is already the spitting image of
one-year-old Max, who also has olive
skin and a bed of hair, and the two
get along swimmingly — Max loves
to pat Margot like their dog and has
got into the endearing habit of calling
her “Ma Ma”. Katherine and Alex are
keen for Margot to grow up loving the
outdoors: they live near a polo club
and enjoy taking the children to pat
the ponies on evening walks.
Katherine, who is an animal lover,
hopes their daughter will get on a
horse soon. They have already taken
her to the south of France and Alex,
who is a quarter Indian, is looking
forward to taking both children there.Alex Firmin-Brooks, 29, a graphic
designer, and Paul Johnson, 32, a
shipping co-ordinator, were married
on April 19, 2022, at South Farm, in
Royston, on the border between
Cambridgeshire and Hertfordshire
Margot Celeste Gale was born on
April 23, 2022, at the Princess
Alexandra Hospital in Harlow to
Katherine, 31, and Alexander Gale, 31John Robert Joseph Mackintosh was
born on March 12, 2022, at Barnet
Hospital in north London to Grace,
39, and Peter Mackintosh, 36WWW.LYNDSEYGODDARD.COM