Mother praises Bury St Edmunds suit shop Gerald Boughton for saving son's wedding

A woman has credited a Bury St Edmunds suit shop for saving her son's wedding, following a last-minute fashion emergency.

Geraldine Shackleton and her son, Josh, both hail from Bromley, Kent.

They came to Bury to celebrate Josh's wedding at Hargreave Hall.

Josh is a captain in the British Army, and he and his party had originally intended to wear their military uniforms for the occasion.

But the wedding was fated to fall on September 9 – the day after Queen Elizabeth II died.

Due to this unexpected development, Josh and his comrades were under strict instructions to avoid wearing their uniforms, as a mark of respect.

The group arrived in Bury without suits, and were forced to scramble around searching for wedding wear at the last minute.

Mrs Shackleton said: "Bury St Edmunds is a market town. It doesn't have the benefit of a place like Bluewater or Lakeside.

"Josh and his wife were getting married at 12.30pm, so time was quite tight to clothe five or six guys who had nothing to wear for a wedding.

"The stress was on another level, but we found Gerald Boughton online the night before.

"At 9am on Friday morning, the groom's party all showed up outside."

Even staff at Gerald Boughton appeared to be overwhelmed by the situation – but Mrs Shackleton said they worked diligently to sort her son and his friends out for the big day.

Mrs Shackleton said: "I think the poor lady probably thought we were going ram-raid the room! They're all very big Army guys.

"The people at Gerald Boughton were just amazing. The women were finding suits to match up with the suits we already had. They were going back and forth to their tailoring shop.

"The support they gave us was just amazing, and they were also really, really calm when my son and the other guys were in a state of heightened emotions, to say the least."