Daniel Whitehouse, 33, who works as a site manager for Kendrick Construction, arranged for the unique form of transport to pick up his new wife, Sarah, from All Saints’ Church, in Claverley, near Bridgnorth yesterday.

She travelled in a vintage car from their cottage in the village to the church, but had a huge surprise after the ceremony to discover she was heading off to her reception three miles away at Blakelands Country House in the forklift.

Happily the bride was over the moon, as was their four-year-old son Thomas, who was their ring bearer during the ceremony. Mr Whitehouse said he was given one job as part of the wedding plans to arrange transport and decided to make the most of it by saluting the building trade.

However, it was a romantic gesture as the couple met on a building site where Sarah, 42, who works in insurance, bought a home.

Mr Whitehouse said: “When Sarah came out of the church she found her transport had been swapped.

“Chances are I won’t be left in charge of anything again.

“She has taken charge of everything else so as I have been in the building trade all my working life, and as I find it difficult to take the whole wedding thing seriously, I decided to surprise her.”

More than 60 people went to the wedding breakfast, including the couple’s other son Harry, aged 10 months, with another 40 joining them during the evening.

Daniel’s mother Chris Whitehouse, 63, from Kingswinford, said: “It was super and Sarah loved the forklift, which was the main thing.

“The whole day was fantastic and the church was beautiful. It could not have been any nicer.”

The couple are now having a couple of days off work, but their honeymoon will be another surprise later in the year

A husband literally whisked his wife off her feet after tying the knot in Shropshire – by picking her up in a converted forklift truck