A COUPLE rearranged their wedding at just five hours notice to ensure they tied the knot before Bournemouth was moved into Tier 4.

Sam Freeman, 30, and Hannah Freeman, née Cole, 29, from Poole were due to marry on December 31, which would have been their fifth anniversary of being together.

But after the government's announcement on Wednesday, December 30 detailing the county's Tier changes, they knew they had to act fast.

At 6.30pm on December 30, the pair got hitched at Sopley Mill after reorganising their entire wedding in the five hours prior.

Sam said: "I’m so happy we’ve done it as we didn’t think it was going to happen.

"We were very fortunate in the fact that there was supposed to be a wedding at Sopley Mill yesterday which had been postponed to 2021.

"Hannah and I were all set up and ready at Sopley Mill for the next day when we saw we only had around eight hours until we went into Tier 4.

"After a short period of being very upset, I got straight on the phone to the registrars and pleaded with them to see if they could do anything in the coming evening. They got back to me and said they managed to find two registrars who could drop what they were doing and marry us."

A friend of the couple had to postpone her own wedding three times this year due to the pandemic.

This was something Hannah and Sam were not keen to do, especially after the latest announcement.

Sam said: "I phoned my mum at 3.45pm to tell her the news, which gave her about two hours before we were due to get married. Once both our parents agreed, Hannah and I went our separate ways immediately.

"Me and my now brother-in-law ran off to Westbourne to the barbers to have our haircut and beards trimmed. My barber literally pushed everyone out in order to do our hair.

"We came back to my house, put our suits on, fed the dog, picked up the best man and made it over to Sopley Mill for 5.45pm."

During this time, Sam also contacted the hired photographer who travelled down from the New Forest for the last minute wedding.

Family members who were unable to be present at the ceremony due to restrictions were contacted and watched the wedding via Zoom.

Sam said: "We managed to get the whole family there, everyone dropped what they were doing, got dressed and turned up. It was fantastic.

"It’s something we’ll never forget. I know a lot of people say you’ll never forget your wedding day, but I think it’s something the family are going to be talking about for years."