Bride-to-be prays floods do not ruin wedding day

A bride-to-be is crossing her fingers as flood waters rise around her northern England wedding venue.

Lucy Emmott, who plans to marry her partner Pete at Yorkshire's Selby Abbey today, said the church sits about 100 yards up from the swollen River Ouse, which is threatening to rise even further.

She told the BBC: "We're hoping tomorrow that doesn't happen and at the moment we're looking okay, so fingers crossed it all goes well."

The unprecedented flooding has left half her wedding party in York and the other in Selby.

She said: "At the moment our reception venue is okay, we've had quite a few guests who are slightly panicked that the water is very close."

The couple's wedding photographer has water lapping at his doorstep, but Ms Emmott said the situation could have been much worse: "There's a couple of venues that we looked at for our wedding that are currently completely underwater in the city centre."

Despite the looming threat of a washed-out wedding, Ms Emmott is remaining optimistic, adding: "I'm hoping that the weather today has meant there will be no more rain."

She added: "We should get through fine to our wedding venue - we might just be a few guests short."