A besotted blind couple who married yesterday have told how they fell in love - when their guide dogs also became an item.

一对盲人夫妇昨日成婚，他们讲述了自己是如何陷入爱河的——导盲犬当“红娘”。

Claire Johnson, 50, first fell for Mark Gaffey, 51, from Stoke-on-Trent, when her pet Venice got friendly with his pooch Rodd at Guide Dog Training classes in 2012.

故事发生在2012年英国的斯托克市，在导盲犬培训期间，50岁的克莱尔爱上了51岁的马克。克莱尔的导盲犬威尼斯和马克家的路德相交甚好。

The two dogs became inseparable and soon their owners, who are both registered blind, soon realised they were head over heels for each other too.

两只狗形影不离，很快它们的盲人主人也意识到二人彼此倾心。

Just a year after meeting, Mark popped the question on Valentine's Day last year. And the happy couple married yesterday at a hotel in Stoke-on-Trent - with their dogs as ring-bearers.

就在相遇一年后，去年情人节马克向克莱尔求婚了。昨天他们在斯托克市的一家酒店结婚了，婚礼上两只导盲犬当戒童。

Claire, who lost her sight due to diabetes¹ when she was 24, beamed: 'I have no doubt that our guide dogs brought us together and helped me find my true love.

克莱尔在24岁的时候因糖尿病失明，她说：“我们的导盲犬帮助我们走到一起，帮我找到真爱，这一点我毫无置疑。”

'Much like our two guide dogs, we are best friends and soul mates. Everyone used to joke about how Mark's dog Rodd and my dog Venice were meant to be together.'

“就像我们的这两只导盲犬一样，我们是彼此最好的朋友和灵魂伴侣。大家都曾开玩笑说，马克的狗路德和我的狗威尼斯是天生一对。”

The pair, met when they both took their dogs to Guide Dog Training course in Shrewsbury, in March last year.

这对情侣相遇在去年3月，当时两人都带着各自的狗去参加在什鲁斯伯里的导盲犬培训课程。

Mark, who was blind from birth said: 'During the training our two dogs, Rodd and Venice, seemed to know something we didn't.

马克天生眼盲，他说：“在做课程培训时，我们的两只狗路德和威尼斯仿佛懂些什么我们不知道的事情。”

'They were always playing together and nuzzling up together. The trainers said that they were the love and romance² of the course, and they brought us together. We could have easily missed one another because it was a residential³ course and we just happened to be put on the same one.”

“它们总是在一起玩，彼此依偎着，训练员说它们肯定相爱了。然后它们就让我们两个走到了一起，我们差点错过彼此，因为那是一个寄宿课程，而我们碰巧同时参加了同一期课程。”

'But we were purely⁴ in the right place at the right time. I have never believed in fate, but it does seem like it was meant to be. Each time we met the lunches were getting longer and the waitresses were tapping their fingers waiting for us to leave.'

“我们真的是在对的时间对的地点遇到了对的人。我从来没相信过命运，但这次就真的好像是天赐良缘。我们一起吃午餐的时间越来越长，连服务员都敲着手指等我们离开了。”

'We chatted about anything and everything. I trusted in the luck I didn't seem to know existed. Now we joke that with every guide dog you get a free wife. I love Claire's personality and her laugh is infectious⁵. We've never had an argument, we just seem to click.'

“我们在一起畅所欲言。我相信缘分，而之前我都没意识到它的存在。现在我们经常开玩笑说，导盲犬可以给你带来美娇妻。我喜欢克莱尔的性格，她的笑声很有感染力。我们从没吵过架，我们就是好像突然就来电了。”