The bride usually wears white while the groom is, well, perfectly groomed. Welcome to the bizarre world of animal weddings.
Animal registrar Ann Clark charges £150 a time to join paws in marriage, but says besotted owners have spent up to £20,000 on chauffeur-driven cars, nibbles and even a professional photographer for their four-legged friend’s special day.
Mrs Clark, 55, has conducted seven ceremonies in a pagoda in her back garden in Desborough, Northamptonshire.
As well as weddings between different species and siblings, she also offers a same-sex “civil ceremony” - although she draws the line at marrying owners to their pets.
There is of course no legal basis in the marriage, and Mrs Clark is not officially a registrar. While there is no religious nature to the weddings, she does, naturally, wear a dog collar to perform them.
While most of those joined in holy muttrimony are dogs, she has wed plenty of cats too, while her most recent union involved two rabbits. The couple, Chrissie Boy and Ellie, owned by schoolfriends Summer Clark and Holly-Ann Adcock, both nine, enjoyed a wedding breakfast of carrots following the 15-minute service.
Owners are encouraged to write their own vows for their pets, while all animals taking part in the services receive a certificate confirming their ‘marriage’.
A typical pet wedding starts with a champagne breakfast at Mrs Clark’s house for human guests - while the bridal party enjoy milk and water.
As the service begins, the bride is walked or carried over a bridge to the pagoda in the centre of the garden, where the groom is waiting.
After they have been pronounced husband and wife, they have their photographs taken for the wedding album - before tucking into a huge bowl of treats to celebrate. - Daily Mail