An amputee Army veteran made a dramatic arrival for his wedding as he parachuted into the grounds of a 14th century castle along with his groomsmen.
Chris Parkes, who lost a leg while serving in Afghanistan, skydived into Langley Castle, in Hexham, for the big day before exchanging vows with bride Pippa.
The 34-year-old, from County Durham, said he and his nine groomsmen had trained for six months just to be ready for the jump and he admitted that it was "infinitely more stressful" than the wedding.
The keen skydiver was glad the weather allowed him to go ahead with the jump and then he along with the other skydivers all made a safe landing.
His new wife, Pippa-Rosy, who is also a keen skydiver, said despite the grand entrance her new husband still had not managed to steal the spotlight from her.
“Chris is allowed to have a little fancy thing in the day,” she said. “I get the big, fancy dress. He gets the fancy skydive”.
And the jump has gone into the record books as the largest wedding party skydive ever undertaken, anywhere in the world.
All 10 jumpers wore black tuxedos and carried out the skydive independently, rather than in tandem. They then swapped their tuxedos for kilts for the ceremony as Chis married his fiancée Pippa-Rosy, 31, in the woodland wedding area.
The spectacular wedding drop was witnessed by 200 guests, some of whom had travelled from as far away as the USA.
Chris learnt how to skydive while in the Army. Several years later, he completed an accelerate freefall course and acquired several licences in a variety of disciplines.
The 10 men have undertaken hundreds of skydives, across many drop zones worldwide, and some of them work in the sport.
Chris proposed at a black-tie Christmas dinner at Langley Castle and the couple realised it was also the perfect wedding venue for them.
The idea of doing something different, and having something to laugh about in years to come, appealed to Chris. He recognised the possibility of the pre-wedding sky-dive when he was gazing across the castle's battlements - which is accessible to guests on a daily Battlements Tour.
Chris and his team reached out to the sport’s governing body, British Skydiving, and undertook the months of preparation and training.
On the day, they departed from the group’s local drop zone, Sky-high Skydiving at Shotton, County Durham, and landed in the field by the castle entrance.
Langley Castle’s wedding and events manager, Katie Livingstone-Evans Lowes, said they were “truly thrilled and amazed” to have the skydive take place at the venue.
She previously said: “This will be something that the castle has never witnessed before in its 673-year history and in its 37 as a wedding venue.”
Chris and Pippa-Rosy, 31, will spend their honeymoon wild camping in the Scottish Highlands.
