Unemployed romantic Chris Sanders is hoping to give his fiancée the wedding of a lifetime by donating his time to anyone who can help.
Chris and his bride-to-be Karen Wilkinson both used to organise weddings in local hotels before being made redundant, and they are desperate to make their own day special.
But the couple are struggling to find the cash for their big day and are looking for help with items such as a wedding car, flowers, cake and photographer.
Chris, 29, does volunteer work at Woodhouse Close Church, in Bishop Auckland, where he helps run a service providing furniture to people in crisis.
He said: “Because I was a volunteer, the church waived the cost of the wedding.
“I thought if I can volunteer at the church and help towards the wedding, what else can I do?
“I will do anything in return. I’m not afraid of getting my hands dirty. If someone is prepared to loan a wedding car, I will wash all their cars for example.
“We could have just gone to get married in a register office, but we wanted the kind of day that we helped to give other people.”
Chris and Karen have been together for five years and have a 20-month-old daughter Ellie. Chris proposed three years ago but the couple had to postpone the wedding because they could not afford it. He proposed again on Christmas Eve and the couple have now set a date for August 18.
They have already been offered a discount for their reception at the newly-built March Hare pub, in St Helen Auckland, because they were the first couple to ask to use the pub for a wedding.