A VERY special guest was on the wedding list for one Worcester bride.

Caroline Dunnell's much-loved horse Pip came to the churchyard at St John the Baptist church in Crowle to pose for pictures just after a ceremony in which she married Steven Dunnell.

The gelding even brought a gift of a good luck horseshoe - one of his own naturally - engraved with the names of the happy couple.

The visit has become part of an unusual wedding tradition for the bride's family as her parents Christopher and Anna Richards were also visited on their wedding day by Mrs Richards's horse Candy.

Candy also brought a good luck horseshoe and the story was featured in the then Worcester Evening News in 1975.

Mrs Richards, aged 60, from Crowle, said:" We've just celebrated our Ruby wedding.

"We also had a good luck horseshoe presented to us on the day at the edge of the churchyard at St Peter's in Abbots Morton.

"Candy was ridden by my sister-in-law.

"I thought it would be nice to have my daughter following in my footsteps and have her horse ridden and for her to be handed a good luck horseshoe.

"Pip was ridden by her friend Bryony Wilson and she handed her one of Pip's horseshoes.

"Our local farrier had inscribed their names on it and the date of the wedding.

"It's become a family tradition now."

Mrs Dunnell, aged 30, from Warndon Villages, said: "I think it's really nice to be able to carry on the family tradition.

"It was a very special occasion to have my horse ridden to the event.

"It was very emotional to see him there.

"We had some pictures taken while drinks and canapes were being served in the churchyard.

"Then we had our reception at Red House Barn in Stoke Prior and I had the horseshoe on show at the reception in front of the cake I made."

Mrs Dunnell, a former St Mary's convent pupil, now works as a bakery lecturer at University College Birmingham.

She said: "Mum's still got hers and mine is currently hanging up in my house. I will keep it with us forever."

The couple were married on Saturday, August 15 and later honeymooned in Croatia.