A man receiving end-of-life care defied his illness by marrying the love of his life.

Duncan Clarke, a patient at Weldmar Hospicecare married his partner Kate Baldwin in the Orangery Restaurant at Joseph Weld Hospice, Dorchester.

The couple, who are from Osmington, decided they wanted to tie the knot, and within 24 hours the nuptials were arranged, including licences, the order of service, flowers, catering and photographs.

Mr Clarke said that he was determined to make the most of the time he had left.

He said: “The doctor felt that because I’m relatively young, I may have a couple of weeks left, rather than a day or two, so let’s try and make something of this.

“Let’s get married if we can, and remember it.

“There is a future.

“Whether the future is a few hours, a few days, or a few weeks, you never know it could be a few months, and Weldmar has made it possible for us to be husband and wife.”

Mrs Clarke said: “They’ve actually pulled out the impossible.

“When we came to the hospice we never thought it would be possible to get married.”

She added: “It’s just like a fairytale wedding, it’s just been beautiful.

“There was no hassle for us – for example the chef asked us the day before what food we wanted, and to see the buffet today, everything is beautiful.

“It’s made our wedding.”

The service was performed by the hospice’s chaplain Lucyann Ashdown, and was attended by family, friends and staff from the hospice.

Dr Paul Baker accompanied the bride down the aisle and performed a reading.

Director of Nursing at Weldmar, Caroline Sweetland, said: “Being able to put together a special occasion like this at short notice is such an important part of what we can do.

“We often talk about making the most of time and it was a huge privilege to be able to help on this occasion to make this such a special time for Duncan and Kate.”

The wedding, including catering from Weldmar’s catering arm Zest, was provided free of charge – just like all other services.

Weldmar believes that hospice care is more about what you can do for patients to make their end of life care as personal and individual as possible.