FORGET limos and horse-drawn carriages – a bride took the bus to St Aldate’s Church on her wedding day.

Newlyweds Tom Foster and Ellie Cunnington, who live in Abingdon, first discussed hiring a car to get her to the church on time.

“But given it was Oxford, we both decided it would be a bit silly,” said Mr Foster.

“Seeing as Oxford Bus Company has become a big part of our daily routine, we thought what better way to arrive than take the bus?”

Mr Foster, a 25-year-old programmer at Oxford-based video game developer Exient, emailed the company in June to check if there were any planned service disruptions.

Initial plans were made for the bride, 24, a personal and media assistant at Christian charity the Zacharias Trust, to ride the X13 service like a regular passenger.

But OBC extended a nicer offer a month later – a private bus with “Congratulations Tom and Ellie” on the front.

Commercial manager Andrew Morison, who arranged the 20-minute trip, rode the bus from Abingdon to the church.

“There was quite heavy traffic, but it wasn’t much of a problem,” he said. “We turned a lot of heads. Most people were smiling and waving. You could see the bride quite well, with the six matching bridesmaids and her family all dressed up with nice hats.”

Mr and Mrs Foster, who met at St Aldate’s Church, were told they did not have to pay for the service and made a charity donation to bus drivers taking part in the Abingdon Marathon instead.

Mrs Foster said: “It was really fun because everyone did a double take when they realised there was a bride on board. I was doing a queen’s wave!”

Afterwards the couple had one more special journey to make...the Oxford Bus Company service to Gatwick to catch their honeymoon flight to Lake Como in Italy.