SUE Gibbs knew exactly what to expect when she married husband Barry - they had done it once already.

The couple who live in Pinnocks Way, Botley, married in 1982 when they were just 21 and divorced five years later.

But they never stopped loving each other and finally got back together and remarried.

Sue, 37, said: "It was quite funny when we first met. I was at a work's party and a man kept pestering me so I grabbed hold of Barry - who I had never met before - and told him to pretend to be my boyfriend to get rid of the other man.

"Barry kissed me and it started from that! It was complete fate how we got together." recalled Sue, 37.

They started dating in the December and married the following June.

"I thought Barry was really dishy and he proposed to me three times. The first time I said no, the second time I told him I would think about it and the third time I thought 'yes, why not'.

"We got married at St Michael's Church in Cumnor on June 12, 1982. It was a beautiful morning and we then went off for a honeymoon in Bournemouth."

"I worked there as an insurance clerk but unfortunately I was made redundant and Barry was as well from his job as a catering assistant. The couple moved "We then moved back to Abingdon and Sue said: "We argued a bit but being without children at that time it was so much easier.

"It was still wedded bliss and I loved him to bits. I still do.

"In fact we have never fallen out of love - we are drawn together like a magnet.

"We were so much younger and didn't have the responsibilities we have now."

But then Sue, who is now an auxiliary nurse at the John Radcliffe Hospital in Oxford, got fed up when Barry started going out drinking with his friends all the time. Barry, also 37, said: "I was going out too often when we were younger and I wasn't dealing with my responsibilities but I didn't want to get divorced."

However, the couple split up after Sue had their eldest daughter Sarah, now 12. She went to a solicitor for advice and claims she was pressurised into a divorce.

"It seemed that other people decided it for us. I felt the divorce proceedings came so quickly. Had we been offered the chance for some counselling, we would have never divorced."

"I felt rushed by the solicitor," said Sue.

They were divorced in January 1987 and Barry got access to visit one-year-old Sarah.

But they didn't expect to rekindle their relationship either.

Sue said: "He came over to see Sarah one day in October 1987and we ended up talking and it just happened from there. Barry stayed the night - although we had been apart, we never stopped thinking about each other.

"We both decided to make a go of things again. Barry said to me 'I love you and I want you back. I know I have done wrong but I'll never do it again'.

"It was really nice. We both felt like we did when we first met, only we were much closer and there was a stronger bond the second time round." Sue said.

She continued to wear her wedding ring after they divorced because she still felt married. "The only reason I took it off was when Barry bought me a new one when he proposed to me again!

The couple went on to have two more children, Nicola, who's now nine and Rachel, who's six, but still they didn't remarry.

"Barry asked me to marry him for the second time last summer. He didn't propose to me earlier because he thought I would throw him out again.

"My three girls were so shocked when he asked me to marry him. I agreed straight away and told friends we were going to do it again."

Barry had wanted to remarry in a register office but the couple then decided on a church wedding in Botley last November. "He thought I would just wear a normal suit and the girls would be in their ordinary dresses but they wore beautiful bridesmaids dresses and I wore a lovely wedding dress.

"Barry was so surprised when we walked down the aisle. It was fantastic. His company paid for us to spend our honeymoon night in a hotel in Kidlington.

"Now we never thought we would say this but we do feel more secure with each other and relaxed.

"Things have never gone so much better. We are not mad for getting married for the second time - if you have never tried it you don't know.

"If you have that special bond in the first place it can work. We do have arguments just like any couple but nothing serious.

"I miss him terribly when he works nights and we are always telling each other 'I Love You'.

"A lot of people have been to both our weddings and I think it is nice that we have done it.

"Now all his work mates think he's under the thumb because they all go out drinking but he doesn't.

"He just tells them he's already done it all and it's not worth it, and he says 'I'm all for my family now'.

"I wouldn't change a thing."

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