Broken bones not holding muddy bride-to-be back

Muddy-matched bride from Devon left bruised, not blushing after horse fall ahead of rearranged lockdown wedding

Tradition has it that brides carry a horseshoe with them for good luck on their wedding day. Unfortunately, for one Muddy Matched bride to be, that same horseshoe – attached to the foot of her beloved horse – has left her cursing her luck with broken ankles and a fractured cheekbone less than a month out from her big day.

Tilly, Originally from Newmarket, Suffolk, is one horse-loving muddy bride who is definitely more ‘bruising’ than blushing right now. She is set to marry her Muddy Match, Jim – a 57 year old laid back farmer from Totnes – in four weeks time at Follaton House in Totnes but her fortunes in the build up to the big day have you questioning how many ladders she’s walked under; how many black cats she’s seen.

It’s even had Tilly herself thinking she ‘may have used up my nine lives’.

Just before lockdown put paid to their original wedding date on 8 August, the 38 year old artist was admitted to hospital with suspected broken ribs after a fall whilst riding. Now, as the days count down to a hastily rearranged wedding date, she finds herself with further injuries and broken bones sustained in the muddiest of unfortunate manners.

“I am accident prone.” Tilly tells us. “My horse broke one of my ankles and my cheekbone when it reared up, went over backwards and then kicked me in the head. Jim got a good whack too when he tried to catch the reins. And my other ankle? That’s Jim’s fault for leaving his blooming wellies on the floor in the porch. I still love him though.”

“I have been back in hospital twice since our wedding was postponed due to lockdown and now the new date is less than 4 weeks away. Yikes.”

Tilly tells us she lived in a cottage on a dairy farm having made the move to Devon to ‘escape the gossip’ of the Cotswolds where she lived for 16 years. In late 2017, her housemate convinced her to subscribe to Muddy Matches. It was there that she met laid back farmer Jim.

They immediately clicked with Tilly quick to admit that joining Muddy Matches, after being persuaded to get herself out there, was ‘the best decision’ she’d ever made.

The decision to make things official and tie the knot came at the back end of last year. “We were on a dog walk at the highest point of the farm with some beautiful views” Tilly tells us. “Jim literally said, ‘I want to marry my best friend’ and got down on one knee = that was it! I had no hesitation in saying yes”

Now Tilly is leading the typical future farmers wife life. She talks to us between herding cows and rounding up the sheep before feeding some orphan calves.
She has her hands full – and thankfully they, unlike a large part of her, are still in fine working order ahead of her big day on 5 September.

“In a strange way, I am grateful for lockdown.” She adds. “It means I can’t get my nails done or get a hair cut so I am getting married as shabby chic! It also means that Jim looks like a 60s rock star with a mullet.

Everyone at Muddy Matches wishes Tilly and Jim a wonderful wedding day. Fingers crossed no further breakages happen.