THE first post-lockdown marriage has taken place in Oswestry as a couple tied the knot after being together for 30 years.

Chris Jones and Annette Terry, of Oswestry, were the first couple to marry as weddings restarted at Oswestry Register Office.

After 30 years of being together, and 28 years of engagement, the couple was pleased to be able to get married during the month of their 30th anniversary, despite Covid-19 restrictions.

In recent months, the virus has not permitted weddings after restrictions were imposed by the government.

However, restrictions on weddings were adapted just in time for Chris and Annette to celebrate their 30 years together in the perfect way with a wedding.

Chris said: “We had booked the wedding for July this year, but then obviously Covid came along and we didn’t know what was going to happen.

“We kept in contact with the registrar office to see whether it would go ahead, and we didn’t find out until last Friday that it was going to go ahead.

“So everything was a bit last minute in the end in terms of getting a cake and so on, but we managed to sort it all.”

Chris and Annette had hoped to have a reception on the day, but current restrictions do not allow large gatherings for wedding receptions.

But the couple insist they are looking forward to a celebration with their loved ones when a reception is allowed in the future.

Chris continued: “We were going to have a reception which we didn’t have because of Covid, but we still went ahead with the wedding.

“There were a lot of things they had to sort out beforehand and we were limited on the number of people we had there and so on.

“It was great – I know some people will have postponed because they would have liked a lot of people there, but we had immediate family there for the ceremony.

“Friends met us outside for pictures afterwards and we were happy with that – we’ve been together 30 years so we just wanted to get married this year, and didn’t want to let this situation stop us.”

The pair were keen to thank those at Oswestry Register Office for their hard work in allowing the wedding to happen.

“We’d like to give them a big thank you for preparing everything and allowing it to go ahead,” Chris added.

“Until a week before it was still up in the air as to whether it would go ahead or not, and I think they dealt with the short notice brilliantly.

“We understood there were certain things we weren’t able to do that we would’ve been allowed to under normal circumstances.”