Being paralysed following an accident wasn’t going to stop this bride from marrying her soulmate
Newlyweds Carly and Nelly Webber star in new show Extraordinary Weddings (tissues at the ready!)
Carly Webber was just 22 years old when her life changed for ever. On Bonfire Night in November 2011, she fell backwards off a wall and broke her neck. Doctors told her she would never walk again.
It was a diagnosis that left her and her family bereft, but her boyfriend Nelly was certain that while life would change, one thing wouldn’t – his love for her.
“I knew before the accident we were going to be together for ever,” Nelly Webber tells TV Magazine.
“The accident was the catalyst for us moving in, getting married and growing up. It happened quicker than we would have liked – but it happened anyway.”
The couple appear in new a ITV series, which meets six inspirational couples who have tied the knot against the odds.
In one scene, Carly’s mum Penny explains how she told Nelly to leave Carly just after the accident, because if he couldn’t cope with her being paraplegic, leaving her later on would be worse. This way, Carly could “get the heartbreak over all at once”.
But Nelly insists he would never have left.
“Penny just wanted to get rid of me, I reckon,” he jokes. “I know Carly would have done the same for me. So there I was. It was no decision.”
Carly is equally secure in their relationship because of Nelly’s support, and believes they are closer now than before the accident.
“He gives me the incentive to keep going,” she says. “If I was on my own it would be a different story. He keeps me focused. If I’m not in the mood to go to the gym he keeps me going and tells me to look at the bigger picture.”
Rugby player Nelly’s strength may stem from the fact that he faced tragedy early in his life.
When he was just eight, his father was murdered on their farm in South Africa.
“That does affect you as a child,” he says.
“You realise that bad things happen and the way you deal with it is important. You don’t want something like that to determine the rest of your life. You don’t want to get negative about it, you need to prove that your life is good.”
But as their wedding day approached, it was the fact that she wouldn’t be walking down
the aisle that saddened Carly the most.
“That was a big challenge for me to get past,” she admits. “Nothing was going to stop me marrying Nelly, obviously. But that was there.”
When the big day arrived, Carly’s dad James wheeled his daughter up the aisle.
“It was great to see all my friends and family there,” she says. “It meant a lot to see everyone enjoying themselves.
“There were times since the accident when we had all been together, but they’d not necessarily been good times. So it was nice to see everyone relaxed.”
Nelly enjoyed it too, though – as we see in the show – he struggled to get through his speech explaining how much Carly means to him.
“People are going to see me crying on national television,” he laughs. “That was the toughest part of the day. I’m a terrible public speaker.”
The wedding certainly had a positive effect on Carly. Before the ceremony, she had only been out in her wheelchair to the local village three times in three years.
“It made me realise that people wouldn’t just be looking at me because I’m in a wheelchair,” she explains.
“They might be looking at me because they want to say hello. It’s not normal for me to be in a wheelchair, but it’s about accepting that this is me now.”
“By taking part in this show, we wanted people to see that there is life after an accident like this,” she adds, and Nelly agrees.
“We weren’t sure about doing it, but if one couple is sat in a hospital watching it and it makes them feel better, then it was worth doing.”
As they look to the future, Carly hopes that advances in medicine may help her walk again.
“When we’re old the roles will be reversed,” she laughs. “I’ll be the one pushing the wheelchair and he’ll be sat in it.”
NEW! Extraordinary Weddings Thursday 9pm ITV