BLACKPOOL'S town crier was the first name on the team sheet when one of England's top footballers tied the knot this week.

Barry McQueen was toastmaster and fanfare trumpeter when Real Madrid and England hero, Michael Owen, celebrated his wedding to childhood sweetheart, Louise Bonsall.

The couple married in a low key ceremony on Friday, but Barry welcomed more than 90 guest to the blessing at the happy couple's home, Lower Saughton Hall near Chester and to the wedding breakfast for 300 guests on Saturday.

Barry combines his role as the first official town crier in Blackpool's history with work as a toastmaster and first met Owen when he did the honours at Robbie Fowler's wedding at Duns Castle in Scotland three years ago.

"When I got there on Saturday I was a bit nervous," said Barry: "as you are on these occasions, but the first person I saw was Michael, who said it was nice to see me again. I was completely at ease after that.

"The wedding cake must have been five ft tall. It only had three tiers - but what massive tiers they were! I had to present Michael with a great big sabre to cut the cake - we had a real laugh with it.

"We had 300 guests arriving at night, some by chauffeur driven car, some by helicopter. Wayne Rooney was there, some of the Liverpool players, Frankie Dettori - what a nice guy he was. What was nice about it was that I welcomed all of the 300 guests individually."

It capped a busy day for Barry, who opened Lytham Club Day in the morning - and had a moment of panic when he saw a newspaper article revealing that Owen had married the previous day.

"I rushed back to my car to check the contract, but I was quite worried about it all the way down to Chester. But the press were all outside the gates at Michael's place. When I got there and they explained everything to me I was quite relieved."

And Barry will be meeting up with many of the stars again this Friday when he leads the toasts at another wedding - this time in the Midlands. The identity of the happy couple remains, as always, a closely guarded secret.