A BRADFORD bride made her wedding day extra special with a stunning operatic performance of Pie Jesu at Gretna Green on Thursday.

Jessica Cole, who is from Low Moor, said she sang the famous hymn for the first time 10 years ago at her audition for Leeds College of Music and has been in love with it ever since.

The 26-year-old has been singing solo for the past year or so and said she had always wanted to perform the song at a wedding, but she never imagined it would be her own.

Speaking to the Telegraph and Argus on her way back from a night's stay in Lake Windermere with new husband Ben, she enthused: "It was completely unplanned.

"I'd been asked to put a few songs on a wedding CD and I chose the instrumental for Pie Jesu.

"It came on as Ben and I were ready to leave the hall and I just decided to start singing.

"The bloke who runs the venue turned to look at me and his jaw just dropped to the floor. I asked if he wanted me to stop but he told me to carry on.

"It was such a beautiful and big hall so even though there's no one in the video apart from me, everyone at the wedding is just stood behind the person filming it."

Reminiscing about what the song means to her, Ms Cole said: "For my Leeds College of Music audition, I was told to pick two completely different genres of music.

"I kind of knew I could do opera but I'd never really tried it before. I chose Pie Jesu along with "At Last" by Etta James.

"The audition went really well and I ended up getting a diploma from the college, so it's always been a song close to my heart."

Speaking about what happened next, she said: "I didn't really take my singing any further until I joined a band, and then in the last year or so I went solo.

"I've sung at a few weddings, although I've never done opera at them. I'm actually more than five months pregnant so I've had to cut back on the singing anyway.

"I'd always wanted to sing opera at a wedding and I got to do it at my own. I'm so tired after this week but Thursday was one of the best days of my life."