Happy couple go down in history with a wedding blessed in Dales cave

Jude Onions, 27, and bridegroom Johnny Latimer, a 32-year-old engineer, chose to have part of their marriage ceremony dozens of feet under the earth’s crust at Ingleborough Cave – the first recorded such use since it opened in 1838.

The chilly, subterranean cave in North Yorkshire hosted the ceremony on Saturday morning.

The couple were joined by dozens of guests all clad in hard hats for a blessing performed by the Rev Ian Greenhalgh before walking down to Clapham in bright sunshine for a traditional wedding service in St James’s Church.

Family and friends held back the tears as Miss Onions arrived to applause in the Pillar Hall section of the cave and in a moving speech told how her husband-to-be was “her best friend” who was always there for her.

Mr Greenhalgh, who as an RAF chaplain for 21 years is more used to performing blessings for couples thousands of feet off the ground, wished the couple a happy future and said a prayer to keep all cavers safe.

The couple, who met in a cave several years ago, said they were anxious to show their sport, which suffers from a perception that it is a dull and muddy hobby, could have a more glamorous side.

In May Miss Onions even held her hen party with 25 friends in Gaping Gill, one of Britain’s largest caves. Members of Bradford Pothole Club lowered each of the partygoers down the 334ft drop one at a time.