Caroline Porter and Jacqueline Newsham marry on 11 October, a year early, so Jacqueline's mum Eileen can be there. Their 12 bridesmaids are aged 75 to 91.
Caroline Porter and Jacqueline Newsham will marry on Sunday 11 October, a year earlier than they planned, so that Jacqueline’s mum, Eileen, can see her daughter’s wedding. Eileen has become seriously ill, and the couple have put the whole day together in a little over a fortnight.
They will be surrounded by 12 bridesmaids aged from 75 to 91: friends and relatives, most of them regulars at Oxton Conservative Club, which Jacqueline runs and where Eileen worked for 44 years.
Caroline, who posts on TikTok as @caroofficialporter, told her followers about the change of plan in a video that had been watched 107,400 times when we checked on 6 October.
“Okay, so I’m getting married in, like, three weeks, potentially two and a half,” she said. “The plan, as always, was to sort of plan something for next year, maybe in the summer, potentially even the winter of next year, because I’ve always wanted a Christmas wedding. But then life has come at us hard and fast again, so we have to rush our wedding through, so that somebody that we love very much can attend. And unfortunately, that person is Jackie’s mum.”
Twelve bridesmaids, and the chief one is the bride’s mum
The bridal party is the part of the day the family most want people to see. A family friend who wrote to us on the couple’s behalf describes the bridesmaids as “lifelong friends, relatives and much-loved women from their community”, and says eleven of them play bingo together at the club every Thursday.
In her video Caroline put it more simply: “We have 12 bridesmaids. 12. And they are all over the age of 75, most of them over the age of 80. And the chief bridesmaid is Jackie’s mum.”
The family hope to put the group forward as a possible world record for the oldest bridal party, “subject to the relevant record criteria”, the family friend says. Nothing has been submitted or judged yet.
The family say the couple see the line-up as more than a novelty: “It also highlights how the older generations have embraced same sex marriage and partnerships.”
Eileen, the club’s first woman member
Eileen Newsham is well known at the Oxton Conservative Club in her own right. According to the family, she worked there as a stewardess and then manager for 44 years, and in 2016 became the club’s first female member, ending what they describe as a 134-year men-only tradition.
She was given lifelong membership, at the age of 74, at a surprise ceremony. “Her historic membership meant she could finally enjoy all areas of the club, including the previously male-only snooker room,” the family friend writes.
That history is part of why the wedding matters so much at the club. “Eileen’s story has already attracted media attention, but now her daughter’s wedding is giving the community another reason to celebrate her,” she says.
The couple
Jacqueline runs the club and, the family say, “regularly looks after and supports elderly people in the area and is known for carrying out random acts of kindness that often go completely unnoticed.”
Caroline has built a large following on TikTok, and this year has been a hard one for her. The family say she lost her mum, Sue, in May, and then her best friend, Peter. Caroline touched on it in the same video without dwelling on it: “I’ve experienced more loss in the last 12 months, significant loss, than I have done in 44 years alive. 45 years alive. Wild. And now I’m getting married.”
She also said she would rather not turn it into a sad story. “I don’t want to be negative on here,” she told her followers. “So I’m not gonna be negative. I’m not gonna let it happen.”
Two weeks to organise
When she posted the video, the couple had not yet found a venue and were going to see two that day. The budget was, in her words, “very limited for a wedding”, and she asked anyone who could take good photographs to get in touch: “None of my friends can take photos. I’ve asked all of them.”
For the family, the point was never a flawless day: “It isn’t about having the perfect wedding, it’s about making sure the people they love most are there.”
“This wedding has therefore become much bigger than just a wedding,” she adds. “It is about family, friendship, community, kindness and making memories when time is precious.”
What it means for you
The wedding is a private family occasion on Sunday 11 October. Anyone who knows the couple or the bridesmaids from the club can follow the run-up on Caroline’s TikTok and on the Oxton Conservative Club Facebook page.
Wirral Online would like to hear how the day went. If you have a story from your own part of the Wirral, get in touch.
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