SOME people might say you have to be Mad as a March Hare to get married at all but not so Rod Colton who has stolen the heart of Lena Harrison.

The Appletreewick couple married on Saturday dressed as the Mad Hatter and the Queen of Hearts, and were accompanied by a host of colourful characters.

Rod, 58, is originally from Northamptonshire and Lena, 56, hails from Bath.

They met through a friend and enjoy folk music and dog walking. Rod is the ex-squire of the Burnsall Morris dancers.

They came up with the idea of wearing fancy dress to the ceremony at Skipton Register Office as a joke at first, then thought why not?

"We both had the idea together," Rod said.

"It was only a small wedding and everyone wanted to get into the spirit of it. We didn't want it to be too formal. We wanted it to be a bit different.

"Some of the guests have made their own costumes and we didn't dictate a theme. We left it for them to do what they want."

The wedding was sure to be a hit with the couple's younger relatives - they have four grandchildren between them.

Rod, a train conductor for Arriva, and Lena, a retail assistant, are spending their honeymoon on a canal barge on the Leeds to Liverpool canal with Lena's sisters and their husbands.

Their reception was held at the Devonshire Fell, Burnsall.