A COUPLE whose summer wedding was cancelled due to the coronavirus crisis have had the blow softened after featuring in a stunning photoshoot.

Mark Penner and Olivia Anderson were determined to remember the year they were supposed to tie the knot, despite the pandemic putting paid to their original plans.

Olivia, who was brought up in Hexham, explained what happened.

She said: “We were meant to get married in a couple of weeks time, but coronavirus struck and we had to postpone our wedding.

“We were completely devastated, but it’s just one of those things. There’s much worse things happening.

“However, we were still sad. We’d planned it all and we were so excited.”

However, the couple will now have a more positive memory of 2020 to look back on.

Their wedding photographer, Peter Robinson, of Eye of the Tyne Photography, suggested another way to mark the occasion.

His idea required the couple to get up in the early hours of the morning to take part in an impressive photoshoot at sunrise on the Tyne Bridge in Newcastle.

Quantity surveyor Olivia continued: “Our photographer got in touch to suggest we do the photoshoot.

“He’s really lovely, he’s got some amazing ideas and he’s so creative.

“We had to wait quite a while to get the perfect sunrise, but fortunately the weather was on or side.

“We got to the bridge at 4am and it was really quiet.

We’re so happy with them, it was an amazing experience.

“It’s just nice to have something to look back on which we never expected to have after the wedding was cancelled.

“We can look at them and say ‘remember that strange time!”

The bridge is close to the Baltic, where the couple were originally supposed to get married - and although they didn’t wear their wedding outfits, there’s still an obvious wedding vibe to the pictures.

And while the pandemic may have forced them to cancel their wedding, the quieter roads, caused by the coronavirus lockdown, allowed the pair to star in the unique pictures.

The pictures show them walking down the centre of the bridge which we normally see chock-full of traffic.

Olivia and Mark, who now live in Gosforth, are now due to get married in May 2021, with a plan to honeymoon in Bali, where they travelled together shortly after they met.

Explaining why she didn’t have a wedding during lockdown, Olivia added: “I want to have the wedding I dreamed off. I want to have everyone there without restrictions.”