BAGSHOT, England -- Shannon Whitehead saw her husband's football schedule and immediately spoke up. There was no way she was not going to go to London. And considering she and her husband, Detroit Lions linebacker Tahir Whitehead, are celebrating their first wedding anniversary Thursday, it became obvious.

Even if Tahir Whitehead fought it at first.

"She said, 'OK, well, I'm going to have fun,'" Tahir Whitehead said. "I said, 'Well, you're not coming because I got to work and you get to have fun.'

"I'm like, 'That's not fair.' She's like, 'I don't care what you're talking about. I'm going.'"

If the timing on this seems odd, well, it is. Whitehead and his wife were married during the football season last year at their home in Michigan, witnessed by a few players and their wives. The next week, coincidentally the Lions' bye week then as well, they went to the Dominican Republic on their honeymoon. They met during Whitehead's junior year in college.

So this time around, they are going to do a little bit of celebrating in London on Thursday night even if Whitehead is staying about an hour away from central London at the PennyHill hotel and spa in Bagshot, England.

Otherwise, while Whitehead is practicing with the Lions, she is with some of the other players' wives and families taking in England.

"We're going to go out, get some dinner, try to get down to the city on that day," Whitehead said. "But other than that, just try to enjoy the time that we are out here when we're down, away from football, and just try to focus on playing the game."

Unfortunately for Whitehead, the well-timed trip to London did not absolve him of having to purchase his wife another gift on their first anniversary. He said he bought something for her, but declined to say what, exactly, he purchased.

As for a gift for him? That's easy.

"A win," Whitehead said. "A win, you know. Because that's what we're here for, to win the game. But I'm excited that my wife is here and able to enjoy this opportunity."