Iconic ’70s singer Denise Nolan, 72, has just married her long-term partner Tom Anderson, aged 77.
The couple who have been together for 47 years and engaged for ”about 30 years” finally tied the knot in a ceremony in their hometown of Blackpool.
Denise, who was one part of the popular Irish family band The Nolans, opened up to OK magazine about the big day. “I had a fabulous day,” she revealed.
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Despite being together for almost a century and engaged for decades, the couple never felt rushed to marry.
“We’ve been together now for 47 years and we love each other. We got engaged about 30 years ago, but we didn’t think we needed the piece of paper to say that,” she continued.OK magazine.
“He’s asked me to marry him a few times but usually when he’s had a drink and is feeling sentimental! Then I mention it to him the next day and he runs a mile.”
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The decision to finally tie the knot was in part prompted by Tom’s Parkinson’s diagnosis in 2018. Denise explained to OK magazine that they “didn’t want to wait until further down the line where he might be a lot worse and it could be hard work”.
For the big day, the pair sat side-by-side (to accomodate for Tom’s disease) at the altar of The Wedding Chapel on Blackpool Promenade celebrating their love with some of their favourite songs.
“Everybody was crying, even Tom was sobbing,” Denise said.
“I also picked Frank Sinatra’s Love And Marriage because I thought, ‘I have to have a comic song in there,’ and we’re all Sinatra addicts in our family. As we walked back down the aisle we had Tom singing Love Will Keep Us Together. To be able to choose all out own music was really special for us.”
After the ceremony the celebration continued at a reception at a nearby hotel with speeches and dancing.
In her speech Denise shared a reading for her new husband which included the line: “Meeting you was fate, becoming your partner was a choice, but falling in love with you was beyond my control.”
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The couple first met while Denise was singing with The Nolans and Tom was working as the resident drummer at the London Rooms in London’s West End.
Denise comes from a big family with two brothers Tommy and Brian and five sisters Anne, Maureen, Linda, Coleen and Bernadette, who sadly passed in 2013.
Despite spending their earlier years living between California and the United Kingdom, the pair now live in Blackpool with some family nearby.
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