Lenny's Technicolor wedding gear

A wedding may be the happiest day in a couple's life. But when the guest list includes a battery of showbusiness stars, a spot of inadvertent scene stealing can never be ruled out.

Certainly, married comedians Lenny Henry and Dawn French ensured they wouldn't be overlooked at Jools Holland's wedding to long-term girlfriend Christabel McEwen yesterday.

With a top hat adding to his 6ft 4in, the purple-suited Henry towered over the other 200 guests.

Miss French's vivid yellow and green coat with matching hair flower was also something of a head-turner. Completing the family picture was their more soberly-dressed 14-year-old adopted daughter Billie.

'Everywhere you looked was another famous face but Dawn and Lenny's clothes certainly drew eyes towards them,' said one onlooker. 'They are close friends with Jools and were obviously having a great time.'

Musician and TV presenter Holland, 47, and sculptress Miss McEwen have been together for 15 years and have a teenage daughter called Mabel.

The new Mrs Holland - formerly married to the Earl of Durham - wore an ornate ivory dress while her husband wore a frock coat with piano-look lining.

The pair had to apply to the Archbishop of Canterbury for special permission to marry at St James's Church in Cooling, Kent.

The church - which featured in the opening pages of Charles Dickens's Great Expectations - had not been used for 30 years.

Ringo Starr and wife Barbara Bach, George Harrison's widow Olivia and his son Dhani, and Sir Paul McCartney's daughter Mary all attended the service, while Sir Paul and his wife, who flew in from America where he has been rehearsing for a new tour, arrived for the party by helicopter.

Other guests included Lulu, Robbie Coltrane and Stephen Fry. Prince Charles and Camilla were also on the list but were unable to make it as they are on holiday in Scotland.