IT WAS a case of wet feet rather than the traditional cold feet for a Hampshire groom who made sure he got to the church on time in a motorcycle sidecar made out of an old bath.

With a fleet of biker outriders, motorcycle mad Gary Smith, 41, bounced across Peartree Green to Peartree Church in Bitterne, Southampton, with best man Jimmy Dinsdale at the helm.

Fears he would sport a shower-cap if it rained proved groundless as bad weather managed to hold off.

Flame-haired bride Clair Humphryes, 32, chose the elegance of a Rolls Royce for her arrival in pointed contrast to engineer Gary's unconventional transport.

Many guests opted to break the wedding mould, arriving on Harley Davidson motorbikes complete with black leathers.

Mr Dinsdale explained: "I tried to think of something that would clean away the old stuff and make him fresh for marriage.

"I just bolted an old bath on the side of the bike. It wasn't difficult. Gary said he would leave it up to us how to get him to the church and I reckon he might think that was a mistake now."

Bride Clair, who wore an off the shoulder ivory gown, said: "The best man already had a bike with a sidecar and they thought it would be a laugh to replace it with a bath. They thought they had to send him off in style because they never believed he would get married. They wanted to make as much of a scene as possible."

The big day was the culmination of ten years of wooing by Gary.

Clair said: "He first proposed to me ten years ago and I turned him down - it's a long story. He has proposed hundreds of times over the years and I have finally given in. I thought I would make an honest man of him."

Gary and Clair, of Garfield Road, have a son, Aaron, eight, who was a pageboy and are expecting another baby in September.

The pair flew off for a week-long honeymoon in Cyprus after a reception for 200 friends and family at the Sholing Community Centre.