Bride and groom ask guests to join them at the Rutland Water Parkrun on the morning of their wedding

Champagne breakfasts, hair appointments and photo shoots are all pretty standard when it comes to wedding day preparations, but there can’t be many couples who add a 5km parkrun to their to-do list.

But before Rachel Drapper and James Dinsdale tie the knot next month, that’s exactly what they’ll be doing.

On the morning of their nuptials at Normanton Church the couple have invited their guests to join them for the Rutland Water Parkrun.

Fifty-six have agreed to take part although 90 more have made their excuses.

Rachel, 30, said: “James and I are both very active - we swim, run and cycle together and if we were at Normanton on any other day we would do the parkrun, so it felt very natural to do it on our wedding day.

“No one was surprised when we told them - it’s quite on-brand for us to do something like this.”

The couple live in London but often visit Rachel’s father Neil at his home in Edith Weston.

They first met at Queen’s College in Oxford. James, 32, was a third year student when Rachel joined and they became friends a few years later. They started dating in 2019 just as Rachel was applying to do a business degree in America. The pandemic interrupted her studies and the couple ended up living together with James’ parents for a while before she returned to the States to finish her course.

James, a civil servant, proposed on November 5 last year. He said: “I knew I wanted to propose at home because it’s the space we have built together.”

He decorated the flat with 93 tealights - not a significant number but just the point when he’d had enough of lighting them. Rachel joked: “If he’d just done one more, it would have at least been the year I was born!”

Luckily for James, Rachel was always destined to say yes. The entrepreneur had actually been planning to propose herself and wanted to use her dad’s wedding ring. Her father had agreed but dissuaded Rachel from going through with her plans, suggesting James might be upset to have the moment taken away from him.

Neil’s ring will now be resized to become his son-in-law’s wedding ring.

The couple will exchange vows at 2pm on Saturday, August 24 , five hours after setting off on the parkrun. Rachel will be wearing her mum’s wedding veil while James has a tuxedo t-shirt for the occasion. Although there will be plenty of time for the groom to get ready at their accommodation nearby, Rachel’s hair and makeup team are a little anxious about the quick turnaround.

Rachel added: “We’re not superstitious so I’m not worried about seeing James before the wedding, but I don’t get dressed up very often so I do want the dress to be a secret.”

After the ceremony a reception will be held at Haybales Farm in Exton.

Charlie Noble, a parkrun organiser, said the event has been running at Rutland Water for nine years with each Saturday event typically attracting 300 runners.

Remarkably among the 88,000 finishes in that time, there has already been a wedding couple take part but Charlie said: “It’s always a special occasion.”

“We’ll include our congratulations to James and Rachel in the pre-run briefing by the run director.”