AN army veteran who was severely injured after being shot in battle has tied the knot.

Tom Coleridge, from Chapelford, married wife Emma during an intimate ceremony in Cheshire on Friday, August 10.

And the 26-year-old is ‘still on a high’ following the wedding.

He said: “It was an absolutely fantastic day, it was unbelievable.

“I’m still on a high - I’m still up in the air.

“Everything just went perfectly, and the first dance was absolutely fantastic - we were really nervous about it and we didn’t practice any of it, but it was that good that it looked like we had practiced.

“It’s all a bit of a blur, it just went too quickly.”

Tom first met Emma through his role as disability information officer at Sankey Bridges-based charity Warrington Disability Partnership, where he has worked since he was badly-injured when he was shot in the abdomen aged only 18 while on patrol in Afghanistan in 2010.

Warrington Guardian: Tom with his campaign medal

Tom with his campaign medal

Twenty-three-year-old Emma visited WDP’s Centre for Independent Living to help her friend Stacey King, the charity’s former leisure and recreational sports coordinator.

Former St Gregory’s Catholic High School pupil Tom said: “She’s a good girl.

“We first met when she came into work.

“She just came in to help Stacey, because at the time she didn’t have a placement for her teaching.

“We just started talking then, and that was it - the rest is history.”

Just over eight years on from the moment that Tom’s life changed forever in Helmand Province, it changed again when he married Emma.

Around 40 friends and family watched on as the couple were wed at the Oak Tree of Peover, near Knutsford.

They are now preparing to jet off on their their honeymoon in October, when they will visit Walt Disney World in Florida.

Tom added: “It was an absolutely phenomenal day and I still can’t get over how good it was.”