A NEWLYWED couple were serenaded with a sea shanty from a Tory councillor while having their wedding photographs taken beside the seaside.
Steve and Alice Davies were delighted after being interrupted with a song during their wedding photo call in Lee-On-The-Solent, Hampshire, earlier this month.
Wedding photographer Scott Morey captured a video showing Lee West councillor John Gledhill and Jonathan Moore, who are in band together, belting out the song John Kanaka to Steve and Alice.
Steve and Alice, both 25, watch intently as the two men perform while the sun sets over the English Channel in the background.
Alice’s white wedding dress floats in the wind as Steve smiles during the cheerful performance.
Father of the bride Doug Cowan, 55, posted the video on Facebook last week, writing: “Just the everyday spectacle of two lovely guys singing a sea shanty to my daughter and her new husband on their wedding day.”
His post received tens of likes from local well-wishers.
Speaking today proud father Doug said: “My daughter was getting married and the photographer wanted to take a few intimate photos of the two of them at the beach as it was a beautiful sunset.
“The summer festival was on and two of the performers who sang shanties saw my daughter as they were walking along the prom and stopped to serenade them.
“The pair of them were thrilled at being sung to and told me it helped make their day extra special.
“When I saw it like everything that weekend, it brought tears to my eyes.
“I thought it was a lovely thing for the two men to do and managed to find one of them to thank him, he said it was a pleasure.”
John and Jonathan, who are in sea shanty group The Rocks N Groynes, sang to the bride and groom after thinking they had photobombed their wedding shoot.
The two men had been out collecting for a children’s cancer charity and returned along the promenade before their impromptu performance.
Speaking today, John said: “We wandered over to apologise after we thought we might have been in the back of the wedding picture.
“They told us they hadn’t actually taken it yet so we were talking and asking about their day. We have had our group since April, we like to go and meet up and sing a few songs together over a couple of hours and a few pints.
“We decided to sing that song because it’s the one that I usually lead on, we all have our different shanty but this one is a bit like our battle cry.
“There are the seven of us in the group but it was just the two of us for that performance.
“The bride and groom looked very happy and I imagine it is something that they might remember about their wedding day for a long time.”
Sea shanties were first sung in the 16th Century but did not gain popularity amongst sailors until the 19th Century on board large sailing ships.
