In 2021, Karli was widowed aged 45 and my partner died in 2019 when I was 34. The devastating grief which followed forged convergent paths which led us both to join WAY (Widowed and Young). We met in July 2022 at a WAY social weekend in Newcastle, got engaged in June 2023 and moved in together later that year. Our wedding in the city where we met will be bittersweet because we're still grieving, but we feel immensely fortunate to have fallen in love with someone who understands complex, young partner grief.

We're still sorting through much of donna's and John's stuff, as well as our own things, and so we have no need for the typical domestic items which wedding guests traditionally gift to a bride and groom. Therefore, we ask respectfully that if you want to give us a wedding present, that you do so in the form of a donation (however small) to WAY. Your donation will underpin WAY's work to keep future young widows alive in their most painful, early years and it will enable their volunteers to bring bereaved young people together into supportive friendships, hobby groups and even as happily married couples, as we soon will be. Without WAY, we wouldn't even have met each other. If you can, we hope you'll kick start our pledge to support this crucial charity for the rest of our married life together, however long or short that may be.

WAY is the only national charity in the UK for people aged under 50 or under when their partner died It's a peer-to-peer support group operating with a network of volunteers who have been bereaved at a young age themselves, so they understand what other members are going through. WAY aims to provide emotional and practical support to ALL young widowed people, married or not, with or without children, inclusive of sexual orientations, gender, race and religion.

Thanks in advance for your support.

Love from Leona and Karli, xxx

RIP donna Watson (1969-2021) and John Hayward (1969-2019)