WEDDING fever gripped the nation this weekend when millions of people around the world tuned in to watch Prince Harry marry Meghan Markle in a star-studded ceremony at Windsor castle.

But for one South Cumbrian couple, Harry's big day was of little interest, as May 19 would be the day they too said 'I do.'

Barrow couple Rachael Dixon and Rikki Halfpenny first met when they were little more than toddlers at Victoria Junior School in Barrow.

The childhood friends would never have imagined falling in love with each other, let alone sharing their big day two of the most famous faces in the world.

But, on Saturday, Ms Dixon walked down the aisle, with her grandfather at her side, and became Mrs Halfpenny in a gorgeous ceremony at the Grange hotel with 90 of their closest friends and family, including son Josh, 12.

Mr Halfpenny said: "We booked the wedding two-years-ago before the royal couple had even got together.

"The Grange hotel was lovely and the staff could not have done more for us. It was just a perfect day."

The couple got engaged five-years-ago, just one year into the relationship after a romantic beach proposal and have not looked back since.

The 29-year-old said: "It all happened quite quickly, we saw each other, started talking and we just fell in love.

"We weren't together in school it was after, when we were 22 we got together. We were on a night out and got talking like old friends and took it from there."

The new Mrs Halfpenny said she had been happy to share her big day with the royal couple.

She said: "It was brilliant, our day had been planned for years so when they announced it we thought it was nice news and it would be nice to share it.

"It was absolutely amazing."

On June 4 the family will head to the travel agent to pick a location for their honeymoon.

A few other special events also took place to honour the royal nuptials with pupils from Newton Primary school and Hindpool Nursery staging their own mock weddings.

Hindpool pupils had spent the week learning about the traditions and purposes of weddings before the big day which saw Dolly-Mae Bamber get hitched to classmate Fain Parker at 10.30am.

Class teacher Suzanne Barclay said: "It was lovely. The children really enjoyed it.

"They have learned a lot about weddings all week and they have also learned about their own family's weddings.

"We picked the bride and groom out of a hat so it was fair and they did really well."