Couple who were engaged for 60 YEARS finally married

By Sarah Ward via SWNS

A couple finally tied the knot after a 60-year engagement.

Alex Hamilton, 90, married Jane, 89, on Saturday, May 21, in a white wedding where the bride used an electric wheelchair.

They got together in 1962, they planned to marry but never got around to it.

Both had been married to other people when they met and fell for each other in 1956, but had to wait six years before they could be together.

Alex asked Jane to marry him when she had left her first husband, and they both already had kids from previous relationships.

Being parents along with running a business became the focus of their lives and they never found the time to make it official.

Jane changed her surname to match Alex's and their kids were only told that they weren't actually married after turning 16 - but they finally tied the knot on Saturday (May 21).

(Kate Hamilton / SWNS)

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Jane was walked down the aisle in a wheelchair by granddaughter Claire McDonald, 29, while grandson Craig McDonald, 23, made a wedding cake decorated with edible wildflowers.

Proud daughter Sally McDonald, 59, said both her parents were visibly nervous and that most people their age were thinking about funerals, not getting hitched.

Sally said: "Usually at this age people are thinking about funerals.

"This is a major celebration, it was really beautiful.

"I think Dad was quite emotional, it was the ultimate gift he had to give her, was to marry her.

"It was almost like this was the way it should be, looking at what they have done together, and the family coming together for that celebration."

At the time the couple met, Alex had two kids already and Jane also was a mother-of-one - living in Birmingham, England, while he was in Edinburgh, Scotland.

They are both friends with their exes and they consider each other's kids to be their own.

Together they have five children and 11 grandchildren. Their wedding at their church in Tillicoultry, Clackmannanshire, where they live, was close relatives only.

Jane wore a white Broderie Anglaise top and wide-legged trousers, and her electric wheelchair "ran over a few toes" when she went down the aisle, according to her daughter!

Sally, a care home worker, said her parents still behave like loved-up teenagers and still flirt with each other in public.

She described her parents as "unconventional" for cohabiting during a time when social expectations were fairly strict - and said they had strict standards about many other things.

Sally said: "If we go out to dinner with them, the two of them are looking across the table at each other, they are always so cheeky - they flirt with each other.

"It's like having a new boyfriend only they've been like that for 60 years."

She said Jane made the first move by taking Alex's hand as they crossed a road, and described her dad as 'shy' while her mom is flirtatious.

She added: "They still go out on little dates, like for lunches.

"He said 'would you marry me when the divorce comes through?' It was like a 60-year engagement.

"I think there was a bit of stigma at first but it was obviously the right thing.

"Dad talks so highly of her, he says 'you are one of the most beautiful women and have such a presence.'

"They are really cute, she still giggles like a schoolgirl when he smiles at her.

"Sometimes the hard choices are the good decisions."