A COUPLE who struggled to get their feet on the property ladder are throwing a village party when they tie the knot at the weekend.

Carly-Jade Bath and Stephen Holland have invited more than 300 villagers to their wedding in Sunday to say thank-you for helping them to set up home in the village they both love.

Villagers donated furniture, painted, and made soft furnishings for the couple’s £160,000 terrace in Broughton Square - which they moved into it in August last year.

Carly will walk down the aisle in her fairytale princess dress, followed by 19 bridesmaids in their favourite party frocks - all from the village - and carrying wildflowers from local fields before a mass celebration gets under way in the village square.

Carly, who works at the Post Office in Broughton-in-Furness, which is owened by her parents, said the couple had no money left for furnishing their home after working hard to buy it.

She said: “I put a notice in the shop for unwanted furniture but we never expected the response we got. We thought we might egt some cutlery but we were inundated with people offering to give us furniture and offering to help.

And when Stephen, her boyfriend of five years got down on one knee, Carly thought throwing a party for the whole village would be a great way of showing their appreciation for the help villagers had given them.

“We really wanted to stay in the village and it would have been so difficult without the help of the village. The wedding is a thank you to everyone for their kindness and generosity. We see villagers in the shop every day and so I feel I am closer to them than most of my own family.”

Stephen, a chef at the Bluebird cafe in Coniston, said: “It was very important for me to stay in the village - I didn’t want to move away. There is a certain way of life here which there isn’t elsewhere. Friends who are in their 20s have had to move away because they cannot afford to stay or they still live with family.”

Mum Diane Bath, postmistress at the post office, said: “We were overwhelmed with the response and it just goes to show how much community spirit there is here - and that’s the reason why everyone here never wants to leave.

“There has been a lovely atmosphere since Carly announced her plans. Carly has always done things differently and I can’t see why her wedding would be an exception to that,” she added.

Carly and Stephen, both 23, will exchange vows at St Mary’s Church, witnessed by their friends, family and neighours and their beloved sheepdog Archie.

After the ceremony, the church bells will be rung by locals and then the town square will come alive with maypole dancing, a punch and judy show, and music from a fairground organ while everyone tucks into a jacob join.

Carly, who is several months pregnant, said: “This is my dream wedding and I could not think of a better way of doing it than celebrating with the community.”

Colin Edmondson has lived in the village for 34 years and will be driving the community bus on Sunday for pensioners to get to the church, said it was a shame that youngsters from the village could not afford to buy a property.

“The youngsters cannot affiord to stay here the house prices are so high and the wages do not pay for it. It is a big issue. They have to move to Barrow or elsewhere, ” he said.

Maggi D’Silva, who has a hat shop in the village, has custom made hats and fascinators for the wedding.

She said: “It is really exciting and it is bringing the community together. There are people in the village who do not know people, but people are getting to know each other through the wedding.

The couple is so community minded it is wonderful.”

And Square Cafe shop owner Jane Rosseau, said: “I think the wedding idea is brilliant and very inventive. There has never been a wedding in the village like this before. It is exciting.”