Childhood sweethearts have tied the knot in the first wedding ceremony to take place in Swindon since lockdown began in March.

Chris, 30, and Leanne Wait, 29, were originally set to have their marriage at the Swindon Civic Office on July 4 before the lockdown came into effect, but everything was left up in the air until four days before.

Weddings were cancelled as the UK went into lockdown thanks to the coronavirus but last Saturday was the first day small ceremonies could be held.

A builder by trade, Chris said: “We only really wanted a small wedding anyway which is why we went the register office route.

“We had written the day off and cancelled all of our celebration plans. The deposit on the actual ceremony was only £40 and because we hadn’t heard from them we thought we had nothing to lose from leaving it then if anything comes about it makes it a bit more fun and gives us a bit more of a challenge.”

Despite only having a very short time to organise everything, Chris made it his sole aim to make sure everything was in place.

He added: “To be honest we were really lucky, jewellers and friends and everyone came together to help us out. It still took time but the stress was eased by the help of others.

“The jewellers, Titcombe’s Bespoke in Cirencester, were fantastic. They went above and beyond to get us rings. They actually said it’s the fastest turnaround they’ve ever had for wedding rings.

“They stayed on late and re-sized them for us, so within an hour of finding out we could get married we had the rings.”

The couple have known each other since they were in primary school 22 years ago. They dated in secondary school but then went their separate ways, only to find themselves back with each other three years ago.

It took Chris two days to organise the makeshift wedding but that didn’t make the day any less special.

He said: “A couple of days doesn’t sound a long time but I was quite relentless on getting it all sorted.

“Leanne took great pleasure in telling everybody I’d organised the wedding when it’s normally the other way round.

“It was an amazing day. For something that was makeshift, it went so smoothly and it was really nice.

“The registrars there were amazing, it was a very different thing because of the way we had to do things.”

With only a few close friends and family able to be there for the occasion the couple intend to celebrate properly when lockdown measures ease further.