A Sherwood couple were surprised by their street after coronavirus delayed their wedding earlier this month.
Royal Navy petty officer Rob, 32, and school teacher Heather Challinor, 31, had their summer wedding plans scrapped due to the pandemic.
Due to looming local lockdown fears, the pair managed to bring their rearranged wedding forward and informed their street’s WhatAapp group that they were getting married the next day.
Their neighbours worked together to make their short-notice nuptials special by organising flowers and bunting outside their house.
School teacher Heather said: “We didn’t really know what they were planning on doing and didn’t know what to expect.
“There were people out there that we didn’t even know so it was really overwhelming for us.
“Everyone I spoke to just said how nice it was for the street because we have people who live by themselves so it was really nice for us to get out and actually meet the people we had been messaging.”
Current coronavirus restrictions also meant the couple were limited to the number of guests at the ceremony which prevented some of her family from attending.
Heather added: “We’ve gone from planning a wedding with 150 people in a brewery to my partner’s sister not even being able to come, so there were only 13 of us.
“Looking back on it, we have absolutely no regrets about doing it, we’re really glad we did it and we’re not feeling sorry for ourselves at all.”
Business owner Louise Darby, 41, organised the surprise after Heather informed her she would be getting married the next day.
She said: “I asked if anyone on the street wanted to do anything for it and just make it a bit nicer.
“The street is quite a supportive and nice bunch of people really, always wanting to get involved and help each other out.
“It was just something nice to do for someone else, and it was lovely seeing everyone get involved.
“I think from this we’ll probably all do more together as a group so something positive has definitely come out of it.”
By Faith Pring
Feature image credit: Eleri Tunstall