Aspiring lawyer pulls off canny two for one
A Birmingham City University law student has combined her graduation and wedding days to create a 24 hours to remember.
Anu Yusuf, 26, received her first class LLB last week. But not content with simply one celebration, Yusuf decided to double up and tie the knot at the same time.
The aspiring lawyer (pictured above) and her now hubby, Joseph Kolawole Ola, had a civil ceremony at Birmingham Register Office on Wednesday morning. After a few quick obligatory photographs with their 50 or so guests, the newlyweds rushed to a local church for a further blessing.
Yusuf, who chose to study law because she is “passionate about people being treated fairly and without prejudice”, has completed a mini pupillage at Liverpool’s 7 Harrington Street Chambers.
Due to a tight schedule the law graduate had only an hour to spare for her wedding lunch before having to get ready for part two of her big day.
Switching from a wedding dress to gown and cap, Yusuf — a student liaison officer at Birmingham City Law School hoping to complete a PHD in law — raced across the city to make her 2pm graduation.
Collecting her first class law degree, Yusuf, who is originally from Nigeria told The Voice:
My husband often joked that he would whisk me away after my graduation to marry me because he can no longer wait. So, we decided to marry on my actual graduation day.
Already thinking like a lawyer, Yusuf explained that there was method in the madness, continuing:
Romance aside, it certainly worked well logistically too, as it meant that our relatives only had to travel once for both occasions. We both have family all over the UK and we were conscious of taking up too much of their time and for all the added expense in making the same journey twice.
With the graduation ceremony ending at 5pm, and presumably exhausted, she reflected on her momentous day:
I’d be lying if I was to say it wasn’t a relief to get to the end of the day, but I wouldn’t have changed it for the world.