HEREFORDSHIRE couple Sandra Winnicka and Bruce Havard finally tied the knot on the first anniversary of an unofficial wedding ceremony performed by their five-year-old daughter.

“We’d planned the original wedding to take place in my home town of Inowroclaw in Poland,” said Sandra.

“I was born there, and half of our guests were family and friends who had booked flights to fly over to join us for a few days from the UK.”

The church was booked, reception venue booked and paid for and absolutely everything else in place too – flowers, cars, honeymoon sorted, and hotel rooms booked for the majority of the 90 invited guests who wanted to stay overnight.

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Sandra's wedding dress, dresses for the bridesmaids and suit for Bruce were all in Poland.

As the coronavirus pandemic escalated, Poland closed its borders, so the couple were forced to change their plans and managed to get a last-minute slot at the registry office in Hereford, but it was subsequently cancelled days later when the lockdown came into force.

At the same time, the couple's business, the Pantry Restaurant at Oakchurch Farm Shop, Staunton-on-Wye, was also forced by Government regulations to close temporarily.

So last April the couple downloaded the wording for the wedding ceremony from the internet and went ahead, with five-year-old daughter, Liliana, conducting an unofficial service, and three-year-old daughter, Nadia, giving Sandra away.

The couple finally married at Hereford registry office on Saturday, April 17, with Sandra’s family watching the ceremony live online in Poland.

“It was another absolutely magical and unforgettable day,” said Sandra.

“I was delighted that my mother was able to give me her blessing, even if it was online.”