A heartwarming moment at a wedding left a deaf guest in tears of joy when the bride and groom surprised her with a thoughtful gesture. Sian Tigwell, the bride, wanted to ensure that her close friend Laura Driver, who is deaf, could fully enjoy the wedding day just like any other guest.
During the planning process, Sian arranged for speech-to-text screens to be installed at the wedding venue. These screens would allow Laura to read along in real time during the speeches, an integral part of any wedding ceremony. Laura was completely unaware of this surprise until right before the speeches began and was overcome with emotion when she realized that the screens had been specially set up for her.
“This was the first time I had access to the speeches at a wedding – the screen had automatic captions which aren’t the best but I managed to get the gist of it. It was really thoughtful and a big gesture to me. I was in tears and my crying made the bride cry as well – it was quite emotional. It made me feel like I mattered and it was nice to know that I was just as important as any other wedding guest,” shared Laura, who works as a communications and marketing officer for a national regulator in the deaf sector.
Laura, who was born severely deaf and has seen her hearing deteriorate over the years, relies on lip reading and sign language to communicate. This often makes it difficult for her to fully participate in conversations or keep up with groups of people talking simultaneously, leaving her feeling left out. However, with the speech-to-text screens, Laura could not only follow the speeches but also laugh along with the jokes shared during the ceremony.
The screens added an unexpected element of entertainment to the wedding, with some humorous inaccuracies in the automatic captions. For instance, Sian’s name was transcribed as ‘Sean’ or ‘Shawn,’ and the best man’s statement ‘I’m standing here today as best man’ was interpreted as ‘I’m standing here as an express tan,’ which brought laughter to everyone in attendance.
Sian and Laura became friends while studying English at the University of York and had attended many events together where speeches were given. Laura would often blend in and laugh along without being able to hear what was said. When Sian was planning her wedding, she wanted to ensure that Laura felt included and reached out to the venue to make the necessary arrangements for the speech-to-text screens.
“Laura is such a lovely person, she never makes an issue and just accepts that that’s the way it is, but she deserves to be included every time. It was nice to be able to include her, and she was quite moved – she had a bigger reaction than I was expecting just because she’s not used to that being done for her. It was so lovely to see her so touched that I ended up in tears as well,” explained Sian.
Laura, grateful for the gesture, now encourages others to consider how they can make big events like weddings more inclusive for everyone. “Accessibility is quite often an afterthought, but it needs to be everywhere. It often only takes a simple question to venues to make people feel included,” she shared.
The heartwarming story of Sian, Laura, and the speech-to-text screens at the wedding serves as a reminder that small gestures of inclusion can have a profound impact on individuals and create unforgettable moments of joy.
