Britain’s oldest newlyweds with a combined age of 171 are due to tie the knot in the New Year after meeting through their work at WH Smith.
Bride-to-be Joan Grant, 81, will exchange vows with Ted Grant, 90, in a small ceremony in a registry office, with about 20 guests watching.
She has not yet decided what she will wear for the big day, which she never expected would happen.
But she has ruled out wearing a white dress and joked: “It’s not a shotgun wedding.”
The couple, who are both widowed, met 15 years ago when they went on holiday as part of a retirement group set up for former WH Smith employees.
Joan, who retired from WH Smith in 1996, and Ted, who worked in the stationary shop warehouse, will have their first dance to Frank Sinatra song ‘Second Time Around.’
“The main reason why we wanted to get married was Ted had a stroke two years ago and I have looked after him so well that he thinks I deserve to marry him.
“I didn’t think I would get married again but we got on so well together.
“We accept what each other does.
“We don’t give up and we enjoy our life.
“When we first met, we didn’t think it would be a relationship and then Ted started to phone me and we had our courtship over the phone.
“We used to talk for hours and we really enjoyed it. I eventually invited him round for New Year’s lunch and the rest is history. It is never too late for love.”
The fun-loving couple enjoy racing each other on their mobility scooters and used to go line dancing, until Joan had a hip replacement which limited her mobility.
Ted said: “We went to Germany one year for a holiday and there was some musicians paying music and so we started dancing.
“People thought that we were part of the show and so put money down which we didn’t expect at all.”
On January 19 they will walk down the aisle at a registry office in Swindon, Wilts, where they live.
It will be a small ceremony but the following day, Joan and Ted and 50 of their friends and family will set off to Hayling Island, near Portsmouth, Hants., for a ‘funnymoon.’
Joan added: “We had been talking about getting married for a while and I kept asking him when it was going to happen.
“It was when we went down to Weybridge, in Surrey, to see relatives that all of a sudden Ted said to the family that we were going to get married.
“They were absolutely over the moon and everyone is so pleased for us.”
