By Amy Sharpe and Emily Chan For Mailonline

Janice Williams, 49, from Croydon, married John, 62, in August 2014
Mother-of-three fell on her back while going to sit down at reception dinner
She fractured her spine and was left in a wheelchair for nearly two years

Her wedding day had gone without a hitch to begin with after the pair exchanged vows and posed for photographs with delighted guests.

But that all changed when Janice found herself lying flat on the floor after trying to take her seat at the top table.
Janice said: ‘I’d planned my wedding down to the smallest detail and I was determined it was going to be perfect.

The ceremony began, and through tears of happiness, John and I became husband and wife. We posed for photographs and then we moved into the reception room for our dinner.
‘Once our guests were seated, John and I made our way to the top table – all eyes were on me as I reached my place.
‘A waiter pulled back my chair and I said, “Thank you.” Then I lowered myself down, expecting the waiter to push the chair back underneath me – but he didn’t.

‘In the next instant I found myself falling backwards. I let out a yelp before hitting the floor and sprawling flat on my back with my legs in the air.’

Janice tried to laugh off the incident, but her back continued to throb and she was barely able to dance during the wedding reception.
She said: ‘I didn’t want anything to ruin our special day, so I struggled on, but I was glad when everyone had gone and I was able to get out of my dress and into bed.
‘The following morning, however, I woke up in agony, and John had to help me out of bed.’
With their luxury break to St Lucia only four weeks away, Janice went to her GP who gave her some painkillers and told her that things should be back to normal within a week.

But a fortnight later, the pain in her back was still there. Janice said: ‘One evening, as I went to bed, my limbs began to feel as though they were on fire and I thought: I’ll have to see the doctor again tomorrow.
‘But when I woke up the next day and tried to get out of bed, I realised something terrible had happened – I couldn’t move my body.’
She was rushed to St. George’s Hospital, London, where she was diagnosed with spinal stenosis.
Doctors explained she had fractured some discs in her spine and now her spinal cord was being ‘strangled’.

To her devastation, Janice was told she was not fit to fly and needed an operation to replace the fractured discs.

Janice said: ‘It was the only way to stop me losing my mobility permanently. I couldn’t take it in.

‘Three weeks earlier, I’d been looking forward to an amazing honeymoon with my new husband. Now because of a silly fall at my wedding, our holiday was wrecked and I faced losing the use of my arms and legs forever.

‘It was upsetting and I hated not being able to do things for myself. Instead I lay in bed day after day, thinking about the sandy beaches and sparkling sea of St Lucia.’

After the first operation was not a success, she returned to hospital for emergency surgery on her neck and started intensive physiotherapy three times a week.
Janice, who was wheelchair-bound for almost two years, is now finally able to walk with sticks or a walking frame.
‘I can’t believe something so stupid as falling on my bottom could have caused so much pain and anguish,’ she said.
But Janice and John are looking to the future and hope to re-book their honeymoon.
She added: ‘My wedding hiccup ruined nearly two years of my life, but I am determined it won’t spoil a single moment more.’

For more on this story go to: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-3631830/Bride-forced-miss-1-000-Caribbean-honeymoon-fall-wedding-day-left-wheelchair-TWO-YEARS.html#ixzz4B7446H4H