Couple With Down Syndrome Get Married, and Mother of Groom Hopes Their Love Will Change Attitudes

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Kieran Duffy and his sweetheart Emmie Houckham were both born with Down syndrome. Yet true love was the only thing that mattered when they tied the knot in a touching ceremony, defying two decades of being told what they would never achieve.

Kieran’s mother has since expressed hope that the young couple’s love and commitment will alter preconceptions about Down syndrome and what it means for a person’s quality of life.

After tying the knot, Kieran and Emmie have joined the ranks of the few married couples in Britain who share the same disability. But the couple is, Kieran’s mother maintains, just like everybody else. “[The wedding] was fantastic because I think it really changes people’s attitude towards them,” Kieran’s mother, Tessa Branch, said. “We’re all so proud and so happy.”

“They’ve got a really lovely relationship,” she added. “It’s not a game for them; it’s real.”

Kieran, 26, met Emmie, 21, in 2013 at a camp for people with special needs. Sparks flew, their commitment grew, and Kieran proposed to the love of his life on Boxing Day three years later.

“Kieran stood up and proposed to Emmie in typically flamboyant fashion by singing her the Wham! song ‘Baby, I’m Your Man,’” Branch told Express, “before getting down on one knee to give Emmie a diamond and pink sapphire ring. We were all clapping and cheering.”

The couple’s families suggested they try cohabitation before jumping into marriage; Kieran and Emmie obliged, moving into a home together in the English village of Bearsted in Maidstone, Kent.

“They didn’t end up killing each other,” Branch later joked, speaking to the Daily Mail, “and so the wedding plans were put firmly on track!”

The couple tied the knot in front of a congregation of friends and family on Aug. 23, 2019. Overcoming their biggest challenge to date, the pair successfully planned and arranged almost every single element of their beautiful ceremony themselves, from the decor to the song choices.

In an especially personal touch, traditional hymns were replaced by songs that meant something to the lovebirds, including “The Wonder of You” by Elvis Presley and “Make You Feel My Love” by Adele. The wedding also included a reading of the lyrics to “You’re The One That I Want,” the pop song made famous by the musical “Grease.”

Kieran and Emmie were keen to make sure their wedding ceremony was intelligible to every guest in the room, including the children. “With their disabilities they know what it’s like to not understand what’s being read out,” Branch explained to Kent Online, “so they chose a love story about dinosaurs by Edward Monkton.”

The pair also encouraged all of their guests to promise to “meet, speak to, and laugh with strangers.” Moving photographs from Kieran and Emmie’s wedding day portray a day filled with sunshine, love, and laughter.

Life as a newly married couple involves myriad ups and downs for Kieran and Emmie. Organizational challenges such as schedules and finances prove particularly difficult. But Kieran’s mother, who runs her own support and provision service called Symbol, for people with learning disabilities, said they make a perfect match.

“They really complement each other well,” Branch explained. “Say if they go out to a restaurant they’ve not been to before, Kieran might struggle to read the menu, whereas Emmie would be able to do so fluently.”

“But if they needed to ask for help, for example, Kieran has more confidence,” she added, “so he wouldn’t be afraid to do that.”

“He adores Emmie,” Branch said of her son, “but likes his own space at the same time, whereas she likes to be with him all the time. Sometimes he‘ll ring me up and say, ’How do I get her to just go up to bed?‘ or, ’How can I just get five minutes on my own?' But you could argue that’s the case for an awful lot of couples!”

Emmie admitted a fluttering of nerves ahead of the big day; Kieran told Kent Online how excited he was. “I can’t wait for the wedding,” he shared. “My lovely Emmie will be my bride after a long wait.”

Kieran is no stranger to local celebrity, having made headlines in 2012 by picking up nine and a half GCSE exam passes at a mainstream school. He became the first known student in Kent with Down syndrome to attain such a level of academic achievement.

Today, Kieran works as a tutor for the Hop Shed theater company at the Hazlitt Theater in his hometown of Maidstone. Emmie is an office intern and studies fabric printing.