A GROOM had to dress as Pride and Prejudice’s Mr Darcy at his wedding — after he joked about marrying in costume.

Matt Dennison, 54, dropped in the light-hearted suggestion after proposing to Jane Austen fan Amy, 59,

His henna artist fiancée adored the idea, and professional violinist Matt started to panic.

He said: “Because we decided to have a quiet wedding I said, ‘Why don’t we dress up and have some fun?’. I was joking but she said, ‘That’s a really good idea’. I was like, ‘What have I done?’.”

They originally planned to go Tudor, only for Matt to reject the idea of tights and codpiece. The Pride and Prejudice-style day then took shape, and the groom fully embraced the role played by Colin Firth in the 1995 TV series.

Matt looked dashing in hired white shirt, cravat, waistcoat, britches, tailcoat, riding boots and top hat.

Bride Amy walked down the aisle as an Austen heroine — in a green empire line dress and faux fur stole, with her red locks swept up.

The couple got hitched at Tudor House and Garden in Southampton before celebrating at a nearby pub.

Matt now reckons more people should get married in fancy dress.

He said: “It did feel a bit like being in the Jane Austen era, it could have been back a few centuries. The only thing we didn’t do was arrive on a horse, but I proposed on one.

“I don’t know about giving Colin Firth a run for his money, but it was really nice to dress up — and I didn’t have to worry about buying a suit.”

Amy said of their nuptials last April: “It was quite nice looking in the mirror and seeing me transformed from a 21st century woman to one from that era.”

She added of her frock: “I saw that one first in the fancy dress shop and hoped it would fit. It’s almost like it was meant to be.”