A GOTHIC wedding will take place in a cave next month, complete with a bride dressed in black and purple who will arrive in a hearse

A GOTHIC wedding will take place in a cave next month, complete with a bride dressed in black and purple who will arrive in a hearse.Leigh Ashworth, aged 37, and Rosalind Smith, aged 29, of Station Road, St Georges, hit upon the idea as they discussed wedding venues.Leigh, an operations manager, said: "We were looking into using an abbey in Scotland at first. Later, we were watching a TV programme about caves and I joked that if I had my way we would get married in one. Rosalind said she knew you could hold weddings at Wookey Hole and it went from there."After buying various items for their special day using the internet auction website eBay, Leigh and Rosalind, a teaching assistant for special needs children at Backwell Community School, decided to put two invitations up for sale. The two highest bidders, who were asked to be fans of 'Goth, rock and metal, hearses, black and caves', will witness the service at the Somerset caves on February 17.The lucky winners will join a gathering of 98 other guests, all dressed in black and purple gothic-style clothing. Carrying lanterns, guests will proceed to the caves to be met by the chief usher, who will guide them deep down into the wedding cavern, which will be lit by candlelight.The bride, set to arrive in a 1971 7.8-litre Cadillac hearse, will enter the cavern to gothic music before the wedding vows are exchanged.After the ceremony and speeches, a coffin shaped three-tiered cake will be cut with a Lord of the Rings dagger and the happy couple plan to toast the occasion with skeleton handled glasses. A quick cruise in the wedding hearse will then take place before a gothic ball begins, complete with a sound system placed on top of a coffin.The eBay winners will be asked to dress in accordance with the gothic theme and will be offered a DVD of the wedding as a memento of their day. Leigh and Rosalind had 12 bids for their invitation, which eventually sold for £22, but they have now decided to let the auction winners attend for free.Rosalind said: "We know the wedding is not exactly traditional, but then we have never been very conventional.