A couple who decided to go against the odds and move their wedding forward had a mad dash to move everything again to avoid lockdown calling off their day completely.

Lucy and Kev Taylor, of Kirklinton, initially planned to tie the knot abroad in September 2021, but after talking through their plans – and whether those plans would realistically go ahead – they opted to have a low-key affair on November 21.

It took a weekend to make the arrangements and they were looking forward to celebrating with their immediate family, bridesmaids and ushers.

Restrictions then tightened, halving their guest list, but they stuck to the date they’d set.

“My sister has put her wedding off twice and I didn’t want to end up putting it off,” said Lucy, 27. “We thought we could get away with having a small wedding because we have got massive families and then far too many friends and it was going to end up being enormous.

“We thought we’d have a little wedding and a party at a later date.”

She continued: “Because loads of people had cancelled weddings, photographers were available and there was no one booked in for the church and Skitby. It all went really smoothly. I think it was going too smoothly and that’s when it got chopped in half.”

Boris Johnson then announced England would be going back into lockdown from November 5 meaning small marriages and civil partnerships would only be possible where someone was ill and not expected to recover.

“I was crying over my breakfast – eating buttery toast because I’d not eaten bread for weeks – and contemplating opening a bottle of wine,” said Lucy.

“We talked that afternoon and we decided to move it forward.

“I went from crying over my breakfast in the morning to flat-out wedding organising again.”

Thankfully, Lucy had her final dress fitting the week before their new pre-lockdown date.

They were able to rearrange their bookings with Skitby House and Jill Harrington, of Harringtons Photographers, and managed secure a wedding licence in time.

But on her lunch break the day before the wedding, Lucy still needed to find shoes and a shirt for her husband-to-be and source a wedding cake – with just 24 hours before she would walk down the aisle.

“The Monday was the most stressful day ever,” said Lucy.

“The cake was two cheap cakes from Morrisons.

“One of them had awful coloured stars on the top of it, which my best friend’s mum managed to pick off and she arranged the flowers so you couldn’t see where they had been. It cost a grand total of £16.”

Initially Lucy had seven bridesmaids but ended up only being able to have her sister Laura Charnock, 29. Kev’s best man was his brother Phil Taylor.

Lucy, office manager at N B Lancaster & Co, and Kev, 32, a self-employed builder, have been together for nine years.

While they had to compromise on parts of their wedding day, they were happy they finally tied the knot in 2020.

“I’m so pleased we did get married when we did. I’m over the moon we did it.

"It was actually a brilliant day and even though we barely had anyone there, it was really nice.

“We are going to do something at some point when we can with friends and family.”

A honeymoon is also something they have to look forward to at a later date.