Till dirt do us part - the white wedding that became anything but

But for Sarah Howells and Dan Makin, Saturday was a good day for a wild wedding.

Following their early morning wedding at Jephsons Gardens in Leamington, the 39-year-olds and 101 of their wedding party hitched up their dresses and suits and took part in the Wolf Run at Offchurch, which is a 10k wilderness run including a lake swim, a 5m cargo net, 100m long mud slide and various natural and man-made obstructions that competitors are forced to climb over, crawl under or squeeze round.

Dan said: “It was something different for a wedding day, but the congregation bonded like no other wedding because they have all helped each other around the course.

“The fact that everyone was dressed for the occasion and the support we received when running the course made it unforgettable.”

Sarah and Dan had been engaged for more than ten years and decided on a Wolf Run wedding after a chance Facebook comment.

Dan said: “Sarah and I, and many of our friends, love the Wolf Run and keep coming back to the event year on year. We had been engaged for years, but never got round to fixing a date.

“However, after I re-joined Facebook a few months ago and the website re-announced we were engaged and this prompted our friends to start pushing us to fix a date. It was our mutual friend Victoria that suggested the Wolf Run for a venue as so many of our guests had run the race before and loved it.

“It just made sense as we wanted a relaxed and fun wedding that really reflected us as a couple!”

The couple, from Ashingdon in Essex, have run the race several times between them.

But this time they were joined by their family and friends (all who wore running gear and their race numbers to the ceremony) and their cake maker (who designed a bespoke Wolf Run wedding cake). Sarah’s wedding dress had a hidden zip which allowed her to shorten the outfit into a running friendly option.

Her bridesmaids all wore adaptable dresses and Dan and his best man changed from traditional suits into their running gear after the ceremony.