Breaktime read

“We wanted him to be part of our wedding day”

When a Hertfordshire couple chose to get married, they decided a close member of family would be their ring bearer — their cat Royston!

A wedding like no other

The couple wrote an impassioned email to the Town Hall committee asking for permission for Roy to join them on their wedding day, which at fi rst was denied. But then after assurances that Roy would be well behaved and that he has his own little backpack to sit in and would not cause any trouble, they relented.

Roy was transported to the ceremony with much pomp and ceremony, in a little clear backpack on wheels so he could be kept safe and secure at the key moments but also free to watch his human parents get married — and he was soon surrounded by staff members wanting to take his photo.

Naturally on your wedding day, the focus is supposed to be on the bride and groom but the couple didn’t mind that cheeky Roy was stealing focus from the happy couple as the Town Hall staff and crew were all desperate to see the furriest member of the wedding party.

Shivam said: “We were so pleased to be able to have him as part of a special day and he was such a good boy. We gave him a little ring bearer costume with the rings attached and he played his part very well. Although he was a bit cheeky as he kept trying to hide in the fi replaces and we were worried that he’d go in and get stuck!”

This was a fi rst for Marylebone Town Hall, as they have had dogs accompanying their owners’ weddings, but never a cat before. Westminster Registration Services Sessional Registrar Alison Cathcart explained that The Old Marylebone Town Hall is a dog friendly venue, which in itself is rather unusual for registry offi ce type venues as many offi cial buildings don’t allow dogs apart from assistance dogs, but a cat was a novel request.

She said: “When we were approached with a request for a cat to be part of a ceremony, we couldn’t resist. Obviously with a cat, they are rather more wilful than dogs so we had to ensure that Royston was

looked after and held in a cat carrier for most of the time.

“However, he was allowed to roam a bit during the ceremony and at one point had to be refrained from climbing up the chimney in the room!”

Alison said that Roy was “hugely popular” with the staff, partly due to his nifty cat carrier and of course because he is so gorgeous. “Shivam and Ashmi’s wedding, and their fl uffy ring-bearer, proved to be such a hit with everyone there. When we posted about them on our Instagram account, the post soon became one of the most popular posts on the account.”

The guard of honour for the trio.

Shivam Patel and Ashmi Hindocha fi rst met when they were both studying at Bristol University 12 years ago. They got together two years later and celebrated their tenth anniversary in August. When they decided to start living together, there was no question that they would bring home a pet as they were both big animal lovers. Shivam said: “Neither of us were allowed to have pets when we were younger and when we moved in together, we both wanted to fi ll that void that a pet left because we love all animals.”

The couple started looking around at options and at fi rst considered a rabbit, but, as Shivam explained: “Nothing we saw had an affi nity with us, then we considered a dog but we thought that would be a lot more maintenance.”

Fitting right in

As the couple are both dentists, they realised they needed a pet that would fi t in better with their lifestyles. And then one of Shivam’s dental nurses said that she had a kitten who was part of a litter and wondered if they would be interested. Shivam said: “I sent a picture of him to Ashmi and we both fell in love with him straight away.” And that is how Royston the Ragdoll kitten came to live with the couple in 2019.

They named him after the area of Hertfordshire where they live and now, he is called Roy for short.

“He fi tted in straight away and he was a very good boy right from the beginning. He knew how to use his litter tray and we even let him outside for a bit. He’s not very good at jumping but he is good at climbing, but we know that he won’t try and escape, and we do trust him.”

The couple got engaged in January 2020, but very shortly afterwards, the COVID-19 pandemic hit and they agreed that they wouldn’t do any proper wedding planning until things calmed down a bit. They started wedding planning in earnest in 2021 and had a traditional Hindu ceremony in Tenerife in July, which of course meant that they couldn’t have Roy with them.

Shivam said: “We had our legal ceremony here in the UK so we chose The Old Marylebone Town Hall as it’s one of the best venues that you can get and it was lovely.”

“ “ We gave him a little ring bearer costume

MORE INFO:

You can fi nd the post featuring Ashmi, Shivam and Roy at www.instagram.com/p/ Cg_wIaQMpQO/