Cafe steps in to save wedding in which Northamptonshire couple had their Brit-pop hero set to play

Lisa Porter, left, and Laura Crouch, right, with their hero Mark Morriss, from band the Bluetones. The couple managed to secure Mark to play at their wedding on Friday, but feared they would have to cancel the big day when their reception venue fell through. RTzTfgW21B1ioeafce8Z

Six days before Laura Crouch and her beau of 13 years, Lisa Porter, both 35, were due to get married the venue for their reception, which they had booked for more than 200 guests, collapsed.

The couple considered either cancelling their big day, or slimming down their guest list and holding the party at their two-bed terrace house in Semilong.

Laura had even booked Mark Morris, from her favourite band the Bluetones, to play at the wedding and was considering having to cancel the singer, who she says she has seen live more than 20 times.

Laura Crouch and Lisa Porter celebrated their big day at the NN Cafe in Guildhall Road on friday - despite fearing they might have to cancel their big day. kcIDaGFOB_kBy16vHCPt

The couple were due to hold their wedding at the Guildhall in Northampton town centre on Friday, August 28, and take a small number of guests to the NN Cafe on Guildhall Road for afternoon tea before the reception.

But when they told the proprietor of the NN that they no longer had a reception venue, staff at the small cafe jumped into the brink, agreeing to host the reception and accommodate all 200 guests, a silent disco, food and of course, former chart-topper Mr Morris.

Speaking after the big day on Friday, newlywed Laura said: “The amount of work and effort they put into it was amazing.

“They transformed the courtyard into a 1950s vintage tea party with marquees and everything.

“They managed to get a sound engineer for Mark to play.

“I still can’t understand how they managed to pull it off.

“They saved our entire wedding.”

Laura, a Kings College research grants associate, and Lisa, who works as an office manager at St Andrew’s Healthcare in Northampton, started going out after friends introduced them to each other, though they soon realised they had already met in childhood at a karate class in the town.

“The NN Café Bar stepped in at the Nth hour and practically saved our entire wedding,” Laura said. “We cannot thank them enough.”

The Bluetones scored their biggest hit in 1996 with the song Slight Return, which peaked at number two in the UK Singles Chart and are set to embark on a 20th anniversary reunion tour later this month.