A bride who fell ill during her bachelorette celebration said her friends initially assumed she’d had too much to drink — but her symptoms turned out to be caused by something much more dangerous.

Olivia Harrison of Cheshire, England, was scheduled to marry her fiancée, James, on July 4, according to Kennedy News and Media.

But in the days leading up to the ceremony, Olivia, 28, said she was becoming increasingly ill with near-constant vomiting, adding that her symptoms began during a bottomless brunch held a week before the wedding as part of her bachelorette festivities.

“I managed to pull it together for a bit during bottomless brunch and about half way through I was just throwing up,” Olivia said.

“Everyone thought I was drunk and I was like, ‘I assure you I’m not,’ ” she recalled. “I went home and ended up throwing up every half an hour for the next day.”

At first, she said friends and relatives assured her she’d be okay for the big day.

“Everyone was like, ‘Your wedding is a whole week away, you’ll be fine by then,’ ” she said. “But I just woke up every morning feeling worse instead of better.”

She said loved ones also suggested that pre-wedding anxiety could be contributing to her symptoms.

“Everyone was saying it was nerves for the big day,” Olivia said. “I think maybe nerves were a tiny part of me. At that point I was more nervous about being ill for the wedding.”

As her condition continued to deteriorate, Olivia went to see a doctor, hoping she might be prescribed medication to control her nausea. Instead, she said she was sent to the hospital just days before she was supposed to walk down the aisle.

“I was shocked to be hospitalized a couple of days before my wedding,” she said. “It was surreal. I was just laying in the bed looking at my partner thinking, ‘What are we doing here?’ ”

Doctors diagnosed Olivia with acute gastroenteritis and Clostridioides difficile, commonly known as C. diff. It is a bacterial infection of the colon that can become serious and, in some cases, life-threatening, according to the Mayo Clinic.

Olivia said she believes she may have caught the infection — which is spread through things like unwashed hands, surfaces and contaminated food, from someone she came into contact with in the days leading up to falling ill.

She remained in the hospital for two nights, where she was treated with a 10-day course of antibiotics and anti-nausea medication. However, she said she still was unsure whether she would be well enough to attend her own nuptials.

“I was just gutted,” she recalled. “It would’ve been heartbreaking to cancel it.”

Olivia was discharged less than 24 hours before the ceremony, and she said she thinks nerves helped ultimately get her through the big day.

“I woke up feeling okay but I think adrenaline was just getting me through,” she said. “The ceremony was perfect. It was so amazing.”

However, the new bride said that she wasn’t entirely symptom-free, and she even had to cut her wedding photo session short due to feeling weak.

“We went to have photos straight after [the ceremony], and that was when it hit me,” Olivia recalled. “In between each one I’d just sit on the floor.”

“At that point I didn’t even care if my dress got dirty,” she continued. “In a nice way I didn’t really care about anything. I think I had one cocktail and it made me feel sick so I thought, ‘This is just not worth it.’ ”

She was also unable to enjoy the three-course meal that she and James, 30, had carefully selected for the day.

“I literally just ate a bread roll and a handful of crackers,” Olivia said. “It was really sad. I wanted to eat the food so bad but even to get the crackers in me was a struggle.”

Still, the bride managed to celebrate until around 1 a.m. — and said she wouldn’t change anything about the experience, calling it “the best day of my life.”

“I’m so relieved my big day went ahead regardless,” she said. “I’d be devastated if it didn’t happen. It was still the best day of my life. Even if I was ill I’d still relive the day.”

Olivia, who first met James at university in 2018, said the ordeal also changed her perspective on all the small details that can consume couples during wedding planning.

“On the day — all this stuff I thought was important — I actually didn’t care about, and it was fine,” she said.

“I didn’t wax my legs like I’d planned to and I shaved them in the morning, and I had to cancel my lash appointment,” she added.

And her advice to others currently planning their special day?

“Know that things will go wrong, but it’ll still be the best day anyway,” she said. “I think if you go in wanting everything to be perfect, it’s not going to be perfect.”

The Rewind: Jessica Simpson’s Chicken of the Sea Gaffe
Close
Leave a Comment