A Lancashire couple have raised almost £900 for charity on their wedding day after forgoing gifts.

Debbie and Leyland Morris, who first met in a Blackburn pub, requested their wedding guests make charitable donations to Macmillan Cancer Support, rather than gift presents to celebrate their nuptials.

The couple wanted to raise money for the cancer charity after a number of their friends and family members were diagnosed with the disease.

Debbie, from Blackburn, and Leyland, from Beverley on the East Riding of Yorkshire, met in 2006 and got engaged in Cologne, Germany, in 2010, but waited another 13 years before tying the knot.

They finally got hitched at Lytham Hall and had a reception at The Inn on the Prom in St Anne's, where they now live.

Leyland, 58, who works at Chubb Systems in Blackburn, said: “When we moved from our two houses into one, and we were planning the wedding, we realised that we had all we needed for our home.

"We couldn’t think of a present or gift from our guests to remember the day, and that’s when we decided to ask for charity donations instead of wedding presents.”

As well as gifts The Inn on the Prom donated a hamper to be raffled off for charity during the reception, which raised £202.

Donations instead of wedding presents came to more than £495 and money collected in a bucket added up to a further £199.

In total the couple raised £896 for MacMillan Cancer Support.

Debbie, 60, said: “We were expecting to make around £300, or even £500 if we were lucky, so we were absolutely amazed to have raised almost £900, which is incredible.

"We were so humbled by the generosity of everyone who attended on the day and donated.

“Looking back it has really given us the ‘feelgood factor’, knowing that we’ll help make a difference to someone living with cancer.”

Debbie and Leyland are now planning a honeymoon for later in the year.