A VICAR embarked on a transatlantic dash to provide the icing on the cake for a couple's wedding.

The Reverend Kevin Wyld, originally from Newton Aycliffe, had been a friend of Denise Bowen's family for many years and always promised to marry Denise and her partner Mark Parker.

So when the vicar heard the couple were to finally tie the knot after 11 years together, he did not let 4,500 miles of Atlantic Ocean hold him back.

Unbeknown to the bride and groom's family, he arranged to fly from his home in Florida, at his own expense, to conduct the service at Auckland Castle.

The flying vicar almost upstaged the bride when he appeared outside the church moments before the wedding on Saturday.

Denise, from Shildon, said: "We've been together 11 years and he always said to us if we ever got married, he'd do the ceremony. He moved to Florida in March this year and we didn't dare tell him we were we were going to get married.

"But when I did tell him he said, 'I'll fly over,' and he came over specifically to marry us.

"We were absolutely amazed. It was the icing on the cake."

Her mother Jean Bowen said she was amazed when she saw Mr Wyld.

"We didn't know anything about it. When we went to the wedding rehearsal we had another vicar running through the ceremony.

"On the day, Kevin was apparently supposed to hide, but he was just standing behind the pillars outside the church.

"I was over the moon. I was so thrilled I flung my arms around him. I thought it was fantastic travelling all those miles to marry them."

Mr Wyld flew back to America yesterday after a five-day stay.

The couple, who have two girls aged two and six, hope to spend their honeymoon with him in Florida later this year.