A HAPPY couple from Three Legged Cross celebrated their wedding with a difference after circus performers provided the evening entertainment.

Sonja McClucus, 31, and Andy Blackburn, 40, tied the knot at the wedding beach hut on Bournemouth seafront, before travelling back to the family farm, where their neighbours, Jay Miller’s Circus, put on a special, bespoke one-off performance.

Sonja says when she was little, she wished of a dream wedding one day, but, she adds, she could never have thought up such a day of extravagance, after getting engaged to Andy on December 25, 2011.

She said: “I’ve been to a couple of weddings where they have marquees and we just thought, ‘Why don’t we ask if we can borrow next doors?’ and they said yes.

She added: “They also asked if we would like a special performance at the end of the day and we of course agreed.

“Add that to our wedding in the Bournemouth Wedding Beach Hut and it just marks out a day of unusual things.”

Jon Miller, owner of Jay Miller’s Circus, said: “We are a touring circus and back in around 1999/2000, we had nowhere to go.

“But Andy’s parents, Jeff and Pat, kindly got involved and said that we could use some of their land to stay on in-between tours.

“Fortunately now, we’ve found a new home, but we still kept in contact with them, and when they mentioned about Sonja and Andy looking for a marquee, we were only too pleased to be able to repay the favour.”

Ross Farrer, Ringmaster, said: “In terms of the show, we knew we were playing to a family audience, but also because my boss, Jon, knows the parents and the bride and groom, we could personalise it a bit more.

“A lot of the performance is taken from our main show, obviously with the same performers, but we wanted to make sure that the happy couple got involved and we ensured that Pepe the Clown ran riot in the audience.”