Wedding couple make sure they don’t miss out on the Grand Final on their big day

Rather than missing out, they arranged for a digi-van to screen the highly-anticipated game for themselves and their guests.

Tom Sutton, from Aspull, began dating Gemma Parish after they met while on a six-week tour of the east coast of Australia in 2019. Tom's intention was to stay on in the country and find work afterwards, while Gemma returned to the UK.

However her feelings for Tom were so strong that she decided to fly back to Australia to be with him so they could forge a new life together “down under.”

They were both working on a banana plantation in the north-eastern city of Cairns when the global pandemic struck and threw their plans into disarray. They only just managed to get one of the last flights out of Australia to return to the UK.

Gemma, 30, who is originally from Broughton in Devon, moved to Wigan to be with Tom, 30, who introduced her to the wonderful world of Wigan Warriors.

She is now fully converted to the cause and they are both season ticket holders and travel everywhere to watch their favourite team in action.

Tom's dad Andy, 54, said: "Imagine the horror after two years of planning following a proposal in the festival of lights at Chester Zoo, the wedding clashed with the Grand Final of 2023!

"Pre-empting this back in June, the digi-van was booked to attend the reception at Rivington Hall Barn as some 30 guests also sacrificed the trip to Old Trafford to attend the ceremony and frivolities.

"Following good luck videos from Liam Marshall and Matty Peet, amongst others, the wedding went ahead with true Wigan Warriors touches all over, including the best man’s speech.”

He added: "We had to do something as there were a lot of people who would have been at the final at Old Trafford if the wedding hadn’t already been booked for that date. Everybody was outside on the terrace watching it.

"The result was the icing on the wedding cake!"