AS WEDDING ceremonies go, it was unusual.

The altar was a high-powered Kawasaki motorbike, the priest kissed the prettiest woman in the congregation, who stood round in a circle holding hands.

But a marriage by members of the Vulcan Riders Association was never going to be staid.

Paul and Rae Liming were formally hitched at the register office in Fareham last Friday. They then celebrated the union on Saturday with more than 100 guests at the Flower Pots pub at Cheriton near Winchester.

They staged a pagan hand-fasting ceremony in the field behind the pub officiated by a priest called Chief.

There was wine, medieval swords and incense. Chief got to pour the wine over the body of a woman whom he then kissed

The congregation walked in a clockwise circle around the couple. To go anticlockwise is considered bad luck. Then Rae, 34, and Paul, 51, walked between a guard of honour with their hands tied together to symbolise the marriage.

Rae, of The Greendale, Fareham, said: "I was very nervous and very excited. It was something a bit different. We all stood in a circle and drank wine, which is then poured over the motorbike. Paul isn't too happy about that because he will have to clean it afterwards. It's all about celebrating the marriage and our links with the Earth, the stars the Moon and the Sun."

The Limings will have a honeymoon at a rock and blues festival in Derby later this month.

However, for a couple obviously born to ride they met in a quieter place. Rae was working there and Paul was playing . . . at Lee-on-the-Solent Golf Club.