THE bride wore white leather and arrived for the ceremony on her treasured 400cc motorbike.

As Ann Ramsden steered the blue Kawasaki into the car park of Squire's Caf Bar, a favourite haunt of bikers, near Selby, she was followed by six bridesmaids on mini motorbikes.

Sitting on the front of the Kawasaki was a small bouquet of lily of the valley and 300 high-powered machines were lined up along the full length of the car park to form an aisle of bikes.

Waiting for his sweetheart, and surrounded by several hundred bikers, was bridegroom Kevin Selvey, 20.

The unusual ceremony - believed to be the first of its kind in Yorkshire - took place outside the new caf bar, at Newthorpe, called Squire's after its predecessor closed at nearby Sherburn-in-Elmet.

The 15-minute ceremony was conducted by Major Barbara Fawcett, from the Salvation Army at Selby.

Bride Ann, 32, of Horbury, near Wakefield, said: "It was brilliant and something I will remember for the rest of my life. I just wanted something different and this certainly fitted the bill.

Bridegroom Kevin, a full-time carer, said: "I'm an amateur motorbike racer, so this outdoor ceremony witnessed by a lot of our biker friends was really special."

Major Fawcett said: "I have helped to conduct marriage ceremonies before inside our own churches, but this was something different.

Meanwhile, alarm bells, as well as church bells, were ringing when newly-weds Stephen and Clare Willows tied the knot.

The couple dispensed with the customary horse-drawn carriage or chauffeur-driven vintage car, and got a "fireman's lift" from their wedding at the parish church in their home village of Saxton, near Tadcaster, to their reception at the Quality Hotel, Selby Fork. Thanks to Clare's second cousin, Robert Hields, the pair were driven away in a lovingly-restored 1930s fire engine.

Updated: 11:52 Monday, August 19, 2002