A minister took to the skies to bless a couple’s wedding – standing on an aeroplane flying at 1,000 feet.

A two-hour rain delay threatened the happy couple’s special day, but the Reverend George Brigham, of Wrose Methodist Church, Shipley, braved the elements to push ahead with the blessing.

He stood facing backwards on the top wing of a Guinot biplane as the bride and groom stood on the wing of a biplane each. Vows were conducted through an airborne communications system played through speakers to the congregation watching on the airfield below.

Jets of white smoke fired from the back of the aeroplane as the couple – Darren McWalters, 24, and Katie Hodgson, 23, of Leyland, Lanca-shire – exchanged their vows.

Mr McWalters, a fitness instructor, said: “We got engaged in the Brazilian rain forest and I wanted a wedding blessing that would top my proposal. It was unbelievable.

“Looking down and seeing my family and friends below was just incredible. I’m lost for words.”

Fearless Mr Brigham, 67, said he was not scared in the slightest.

“I did this before, about eight years ago,” he said. “It’s certainly the most unusual wedding I’ve ever done. The only hairy moment was when I thought my goggles were about to come off.”

Postwoman Mrs Hodgson said as a young girl she never imagined she would wed on the wings of a plane.

She said: “I bring the adventurous side out of Darren – he used to be scared of heights.”

Mr Brigham stepped up to the task after a nationwide search by the couple for a daredevil vicar.

The ceremony was held in the Cotswolds at the RFC Rendcomb Airfield in Gloucestershire with Team Guinot, the world’s only formation wing-walking team. Mr Brigham used the event to raise money for the Wrose Methodist Church Redevelopment Fund.