The bride ate chips

Tony Case and Sue Ashcroft had somehow managed to keep their reception venue a close secret from even their closest family members and friends.

So eyes popped open wide when the 45 immaculately dressed guests were trooped into the Chipmunk fish and chips diner on Westfield Street, St Helens.

There they were all served with a tasty plate of crispy cod, chips and mushy peas with bread and butter... and a cup of tea with which to toast the happy couple.

It had all started like a conventional Friday-afternoon marriage, apart from the fact that the groom and his best man both sported clogs with their neatly-pressed grey suits.

After the St Helens Register Office ceremony, and the obligatory pause for wedding pictures, a luxury coach whisked the guests - including members of showbiz, of the legal and financial professions and people from the property dealing and commercial world - into the town centre.

They were then ushered into the spectacular, newly-opened Nexus cocktail bar - the ladies clinging on to their ornate wedding hats as they crossed the road in the windy drizzle.

Drinks were taken in a relaxed atmosphere for 45 minutes until the wedding meal announcement. With no tables in sight, the guests gazed around in puzzlement.

This was the cue for, Tony, a former local estate agent, and Sue, once a world-travelled cruise line entertainments director, to lead the bemused guests out into the street for the short walk to the chipshop next door. The Chipmunk had been specially decked out with wedding decorations and sheafs of flowers for the occasion.

Puzzlement turned to peals of good-natured laughter as the guests took their places before heartily tucking into the fish-and-chip banquet. Then came the traditional speeches and toasts and a serving of the wedding cake.

The day, voted a huge success by all the amused guests, was rounded off by an evening reception and slap-up buffet at Greenalls Social Club.

It was a third marriage for Tony, whose cottage home is in Billinge, and the first for Sue, who lives in Windlehurst. And afterwards, the happy couple (both in their fifties) explained the reason for their unconventional big day, before setting off on honeymoon in Scotland. "We are both simple Northerners at heart and during our careers we tired of the champagne lifestyle," said Tony.

Sue added: "I've dined in some of the world's most exotic restaurants during my cruise line years. But I never lost my yearning for the fish and chips of my St Helens hometown."

Last word went to guest Pete Price, actor-comic and radio talk-in host, who is a long standing showbiz friend of Sue's: "I've been to some unusual do's in my time, but this one certainly goes straight into my gag-book."

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