Monster truck wedding turns heads

1:09pm Tuesday 11th September 2007

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It probably wasn't just Katja Von Schweitzer's dress that turned a few heads when she arrived at the church on her wedding day.

The 12 foot tall monster truck she was riding in might also have had something to do with it.

Marketing manager Katja was ferried from her home in Brighton to the idyllic church in Isfield, near Uckfield, in a one-of-a-kind high-powered truck last used to shatter the world record for the fastest journey to the South Pole.

Her new husband Andrew Miles had been the videographer for the team which used the truck, called the Ice Challenger, and was offered the use of it by his friend, expedition leader Jason De Carteret.

Andrew said: "When I told Katja he had offered to let us use it I thought she would be horrified by the idea but she wasn't at all, she really liked it."

Katja said she had to buy two six metre long strips of ribbon to tie the traditional wedding decoration onto the truck.

She said: "One was just not going to be long enough, the thing is absolutely huge. It was great fun travelling to the church. There were six of us inside and we were getting some fantastic looks as we drove along the way."

The couple had kept the fact they were using the truck a secret from their wedding guests, so when they arrived it proved to be a grand entrance.

Andrew said: "I was stood waiting at the alter and all of a sudden you could hear a huge engine roaring outside. I think everyone in the church thought the building was collapsing."

Many of the guests rushed outside to see the Ice Challenger squeezing down the narrow lane leading to the church.

The truck was not the only quirk at the wedding. After the ceremony the pair were rowed down the River Ouse, alongside the church, to their reception at a marquee in nearby Barcombe.

Katja, who works at St Mary's Hall School in Brighton, said: "It was absolutely beautiful, we had a fantastic leisurely journey with a guitarist playing us songs from a boat next to us."

At the reception guests were treated to white-knuckle rides in the Ice Challenger around fields owned by one of the couple's friends.

Katja said: "It was leaning over one way and the other, everyone had a great time in it."

Mr De Carteret and Andrew's 70 hour long trip to the South Pole will feature in this year's Guinness Book Of Records as the fastest land journey across Antarctica.

Footage of the expedition, lead by Voyage Concepts, can be seen at www.explorersfilmschool.com, the website of the film school Andrew has launched at the Brighton Business Centre in Ditchling Road, Brighton.

Have you had a strange wedding experience? Tell us below.