It has been the home of puppet shows for thirty years, but next month Norwich Puppet Theatre is to host a different kind of event when it becomes the venue for a Norwich couple's wedding.

Anna Hunn and Toby Catlin, both originally from the city and who now live in east London, will get married at the theatre on May 28. Their wedding is thought to be the first one at the redundant church since it became Norwich Puppet Theatre in 1980.

Miss Hunn, a 31-year-old primary school teacher, said they chose the venue because they both have fond childhood memories of the theatre and some of their family have connections to the theatre.

'It is somewhere that has always been special to us. We both went there a lot when we were children,' she said,

The couple will get married on the Puppet Theatre stage.

'It is very exiting. It is really romantic, and it feels like quite a privilege to be getting married at the Puppet Theatre, somewhere that has all of this history,' Miss Hunn said.

Miss Hunn and Mr Catlin, a 31-year-old web developer, have been together for six years, however they have known each other since school. They were both pupils at Bignold Middle School and The Hewett School.

Ian Woods, the theatre's general manager, said the theatre was granted a licence for civil weddings and civil partnership ceremonies in November, and Miss Hunn and Mr Catlin's wedding will be the first the venue has hosted.

St James Pockthorpe, in Whitefriars, was first founded in the time of William the Conqueror. It was closed as a church in 1972 and transformed into Norwich Puppet Theatre in 1980.

• Anybody interested in getting married at the theatre should call 01603 615564.

• emma.knights@archant.co.uk