PLENTY of "vicarage" brides have been married by their fathers,
but it is still quite unusual for one to be married by her mother.
And the wedding took place in the church, St Leonard's,
Walton-le-Dale, near Preston, in Blackburn
diocese, where the Revd Janet Parker was herself married.
Mrs Parker is currently Vicar of St Thomas's, in High Lane,
Stockport, where she is a Rural Dean in Chester diocese; but the
Bishop of Blackburn, the Rt Revd Nicholas Reade, gave her
permission to officiate at the marriage of her daughter Jenny, an
international trade adviser, to Wesley Hartley, a financial-grants
analyst.
"It was a wonderful moment, seeing my daughter walking down the
aisle on the arm of my husband," Mrs Parker said.
"It was amazing to have Mum officiating over it," her daughter
said. "It just made it all the more special on the day. There was
quite a big significance about the church, because I have been
going there since I was a child."
After the ceremony, they all adjourned to the inn at Whitewell,
in the Trough of Bowland, before the newlyweds set off for a
honeymoon in the south of France.