A COUPLE hired a busker to play for their first wedding dance after the bride saw him when collecting her dress.

Claire Oliver says it was ‘a sign’ when she saw James Burnham playing his violin outside Waitrose in Great Malvern.

Mrs Oliver has seen the busker perform for years but spoke to him for the first time when she invited him to her wedding reception.

The wedding took place after her husband, John Oliver, proposed to her at a comedy gig last year.

Mrs Oliver, a 35-year-old freelance artist, said: “We regularly go up to town in Great Malvern and he’s regularly playing by Waitrose.

“I went to pick up my wedding dress, saw him playing and thought it would be nice to have a bit of music.

“I thought it was a sign and asked him. I hadn’t spoken to him before and I think he was quite taken aback.

“He normally plays gypsy jazz but we wanted a Kings of Leon song so he went and learnt that. It was excellent.”

Mr Oliver, who works as a pharmacy technician, gave Mr Burnham a beer when he came to the reception at Hillside House, in St Ann’s Road, Malvern.

“Everyone was in a great mood as it’s a celebration time. He played for about an hour and played for our first dance,” she said.

“We had the ceremony at Malvern College and then went to Bands in the Park after. It was one of the hottest days of the year, we all got sunburnt.”

Mr Oliver proposed to Mrs Oliver at a Rich Hall gig after the comedian teased him for not marrying her after two-and-a-half years.

Coincidently Mr Oliver had already asked her father for permission to marry his daughter and the gig in May provided an ideal opportunity.