Candidate Votes In Wedding Dress After General Election Falls On Wedding Day

'I hope it sends a strong signal to women.'

An election candidate voted in her wedding dress after the snap election landed on the day she’d planned her nuptials for. 

Sorcha Eastwood and new husband Dale Shirlow tied the knot in a church in Northern Ireland earlier today (8 June) before heading to their local polling station.

Eastwood is standing as the Alliance Party candidate for West Belfast.

She hopes interrupting her wedding day to vote will inspire more women to get involved in politics.   

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Eastwood, who plans to keep track of the election results during her wedding reception, became engaged to Shirlow back in 2009.

The pair began arranging their wedding last August, but Eastwood said balancing wedding plans and last-minute campaigning has been a challenge.

“It’s been a lot to do and a lot to take in but my family have been absolutely fantastic and my husband Dale has been absolutely fantastic and so supportive throughout the whole process,” she said, according to the MailOnline

“I hope it sends a strong signal to women out there that they can do it, they can get involved in politics.”

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In the 2015 general election, 34% of people who were registered to vote did not visit their polling station on the day.

If Eastwood can do it on her wedding day, there’s really no excuse not to. 

Photos Of Women Voting In The UK
1920s(01 of10)
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A group of women in their 20s left the polling station with smiles on their faces in 1929, having just voted in their first general election. (credit:PA Archive/PA Images)
1930s(02 of10)
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Women voting was becoming the norm by the 1931 general election, when this woman was photographed placing her vote in a ballot box at The Streatham Library polling station. (credit:Photo by Daily Mail/REX/Shutterstock)
1940s(03 of10)
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By the 1940s, men and women volunteered side by side at the polling stations. Here, a woman was seen checking over votes in preparation for the count during the 1945 general election. (credit:REX/Shutterstock)
1950s(04 of10)
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107-year-old Caroline Beale (pictured centre) proved you're never too old to have your voice heard when she voted at Wallington polling station for the 1955 general election. (credit:ANL/REX/Shutterstock)
1960s(05 of10)
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Daphne Cohen walked to the polling station with her son in her arms alongside footballer husband George Cohen in the 1966 general election. (credit:Edward Zimmerman/Associated/REX/Shutterstock)
1970s(06 of10)
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Manchester-born singer Kathy Jones proudly strutted out of the polling station for the 1974 general election. (credit:Kevin Holt/ANL/REX/Shutterstock)
1980s(07 of10)
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Whatever you think of her policies, there's no denying Margaret Thatcher changed the way women are seen in politics. Here, she was seen at a polling station alongside her husband Denis in 1987. (credit:Keystone via Getty Images)
1990s(08 of10)
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Singer Elaine Paige was snapped beaming from ear to ear after voting at a Chelsea polling station during the 1992 general election. (credit:Murray Sanders/ANL/REX/Shutterstock)
2000s(09 of10)
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Labour candidate Oona King and her husband Tiberio Santamarco photographed after voting in the 2005 general election. (credit:Glenn Copus / Evening Standard /REX/Shutterstock)
2010s(10 of10)
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The hashtag #BabiesAtPollingStations has provided Brits with some much-needed light relief over the recent elections. Here, two Londoners were photographed after casting their votes in the 2015 general election with their little ones in tow. (credit:In Pictures Ltd./Corbis via Getty Images)