A marriage made in Leicester: DMU Journalism grads tie the knot

A twisted ankle on a fateful trip to Prague sparked a romance which blossomed during Journalism studies at De Montfort University Leicester (DMU) for two sweethearts who have now got married in a stunning autumn ceremony.

Love was truly written in the stars for Sam Ellison and Alice Gibbs, who were first of all classmates in Joint Honours Journalism classes before going on together to study on DMU’s Channel 4 Investigative Journalism MA postgraduate course.

The happy pair first discovered their connection during a trip to Prague organised by DMU.

“We went on a DMU trip to Prague where Alice introduced herself to me, even though we’d been sat across from each other in the same class for a year!” Sam explained, now 29.

“On a night out I actually hurt my ankle, damaging a ligament, and Alice stayed back at the room to look after me.

“She spent the night running back and forth from the freezer getting tea towels to ice my ankle, and we hit it off from there.”

From that night, the two became best friends, spending all their time together for the remainder of their years at university, with Sam proposing while the couple were on a holiday in Ireland in 2019.

Thankfully, there were no Covid-19 restrictions affecting how many people could attend their wedding, meaning the couple were able to celebrate their special day together with 100 of their family and friends.

Alice, 26, said: “It was really brilliant, even with us being so worried in the build up that someone might test positive for Covid-19 or if there was another lockdown.

“The timing couldn’t have been better as we always said we wanted to get married at the end of October 2021.

“We both like the autumn, and we had all the pumpkins out, which were great!”

Many former classmates joined them for the celebrations, with Lewis Bagshaw being the best man and Melinda Stead the maid of honour. Both are DMU graduates in Journalism and Psychology respectively.

Alice, who since graduating has gone on to be a freelance journalist and now works in the marketing department at Next, added: “All of the tutors [at DMU] were so fantastic and supportive, they helped me get to where I wanted to go. 

“I did some amazing things, such as work experience, because they encouraged me to do it. 

“I genuinely think studying Journalism was one of my favourite things about my time at university.”

The couple wanted to emphasise the important role that their lecturer, Andy Plaice, who sadly died in February last year, had on their lives.

Sam, who is a content writer for UK Linkology, said: “Andy was such a big part of our time at university, right from the first year onwards, and his classes brought us together.”