Usually all eyes at a wedding are on the bride but yesterday Joanne Nicholson was happy to share centre stage with her famous globe-trotting car.

Florence, a 50-year-old Morris Oxford, won international stardom when Mrs Nicholson - as she is now - and new husband Tim drove her from Oxford in England to its namesake town in New Zealand.

The former Oxford University students yesterday got married at Oxford Register Office with Florence dressed up as the wedding car.

Mrs Nicholson, 36, said: "We couldn't have had any other car."

Her 37-year-old husband added: "Given that she's got lots of logos (from the stops on their trip) on her already we are going to decorate her with ribbons."

Yesterday may not have been the last time Florence takes centre stage. The Nicholsons are hoping the car might go on show in the Morris Motors Museum exhibition at the Oxford Bus Museum in Long Han- borough.

Mr Nicholson said: "We could never part with her permanently, but we would like to put it on display somewhere so more people can enjoy her besides us."

Inspired by the basic lifestyles they saw during their journey, they decided to keep their wedding simple - a barn dance with locally produced food.

Mr Nicholson said: "We have gone a bit eco since we came back. We were interested in that already but because of our journey we saw how people were living around the world."

They returned to Oxford - the English one - in spring last year and settled in Summertown, where they had spent their student days.

Announcing their engagement attracted national press coverage.

The ceremony at Oxford Register Office, followed by a blessing at Wittenham Clumps, marked the grand finale of their globe-trotting adventures.

The trip, which has raised £17,000 for the Red Cross, took them through France, Spain, then across northern Africa into Egypt. From there they were shipped over to India, where India's version of the UK Top Gear programme featured their story, and then on to Singapore.

Next on the itinerary was Perth, Adelaide and then Sydney in Australia before moving on to Auckland, Zealand.

Their honeymoon will be a bit more low key - a canal trip up the River Thames.

Mr Nicholson said: "After driving through cities like Bombay we thought we'd take a different form of transport and something less stressful."