WEDDING bells rang out a day early as children tied the knot in honour of the Royal Wedding and held street parties to celebrate the big day.

Pupils from King William Street Primary School and Oakhurst Primary School walked up the aisle in mock wedding celebrations yesterday.

And at other schools and nurseries across Swindon there were flags flying, songs sung and glasses of juice raised to the happy couple at playground parties.

Glitterbugs pre-school held a prince and princess day, Nyland School had a special wedding lunch, the Busy Bees nursery held a royal wedding tea party and pupils at Colebrook Infants School, Chiseldon Primary, Westrop Primary School, Oliver Tompkins and Leapfrog nursery all held their own version of street parties.

At Christ Church, King William Street pupils Libby Newbury and Ryan Davis, both 10, were the bride and groom at a special service.

Headteacher Margaret Clarke said: “The staff came up with the idea to celebrate the Royal Wedding. We are a church school and we have done a variety of different services at Christ Church so this was an ideal opportunity to share with our children and parents what a wedding service is.”

The bride and groom, whose names had been chosen out of a hat, walked down the aisle to the Star Wars theme tune and the congregation sang hymns during the service.

Libby, of Lawn, said: “I was nervous, I thought it might go wrong. I was worried, I understand how Kate Middleton feels now.”

Ryan said: “I was extremely nervous, it’s just the tension building up. I thought when they say ‘does anyone have any objections?’ I thought one of my friends might stand up.”

He said he would advise Kate and William to ‘just relax’ during their ceremony today.

Oakhurst Primary School ahosted a wedding, which included their very own Royal family and Royal couple wearing masks to say ‘I do’.

One of the organisers, Gill Jones, who teaches the reception class, said: “It’s the real life experience. Some children may not have been to a wedding, we can teach them about the wedding and the Royal family.”

Seven-year-old Isabella Brown, of Oakhurst, played the role of Kate Middleton and said she had enjoyed the day.

“It was a bit nerve-wracking but in the end I found out there was nothing to be nervous about. I would tell Kate ‘be confident, there’s nothing to worry about’,” she said.

A disco and tea party on the field followed the celebration and the Queen even waved as she drove past in a white Porsche.

Prince William was played by Thomas Surch, seven, who said it was weird being a groom at such a young age.

“I am still young, I’m not actually old enough to be one yet. This was my first ever time of being a groom. I liked repeating the words from the vicar,” he said.

Best man Prince Harry was played by Jacob Maslen, eight, who had to read a speech and said he was really excited when he found out he would be playing that part.