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Christian worship group Rend Collective was not always the well-known band it is today.

Lead vocalist Chris Llewellyn from Bangor recalls how the group started off as a Bible study but things have changed greatly since then.

“It’s got wildly out of control at this point,” he joked.

As members of the group were growing up and moving on, they recorded some music as a memento, which caught the attention of songwriter Martin Smith.

Smith then played them to an American worship leader, which brought the Bible-study-turned band stateside for the first time.

Llewellyn described touring in America over the years as an “incredible privilege”.

“I remember getting on a tour bus for the first time, and I was just soaking it in because I thought I’d never get back on one again,” he said.

“And yet, 16 years later and we’re still going.”

He said the accent “gets us very far out there”.

“It’s actually harder touring in the UK where nobody cares about our accent.”

Steve Mitchell, bass guitarist for the band, said through touring he was fortunate to see a lot of the world including America, South America and Asia.

Mitchell said he was “too young” to join the band at the beginning, and actually “messaged them on Facebook” to ask about joining.

Ahead of playing at the SSE Arena on Friday, Mitchell said “I’ve already eaten my bodyweight in sausage rolls.

“I worked at the SSE for a little bit when it was called the Odyssey, which we still call it. But it’s just so close to home, and unbelievable that we get to do it.”

Llewellyn said that while the logistics of performing and touring have become “much more complicated”, it does not get more difficult than “trying to love God and love your neighbour, through the context of playing a banjo”.

“At the heart of it, it’s still four or five people playing acoustic instruments and singing to God about life and faith,” he said.

Llewellyn said music and faith “has always been connected to me”.

“It doesn’t make sense to do it any other way,” he said.

“When I’ve personally tried to write stuff that isn’t necessarily faith-based, it always ends up back there.”

Llewellyn said the band has received “mild” negativity from some churches over how worship should sound.

“You sometimes get the criticism that this isn’t worship, it’s a show… to which I would say it’s a show and it’s worship,” he explained.

Llewllyn said that the band’s “Irish blood” has brought them back to the folk genre in their new album, ‘FOLK!’.

“The whole album is very organic, one of the special things about folk music is implied in the name, it’s just for the people and I really love that,” he said.

Having performed at a number of venues in the US, including Nampa, Burlington and Nashville, they are returning to the SSE Arena in Belfast on Friday 12 September.

They will then tour several venues across the UK, including Birmingham, Manchester and London, before heading back stateside.

Michelle and John Wylie had a blissful November wedding four years ago at a boutique hotel on the South Ayrshire coast, surrounded by friends, loved ones – and one complete stranger.

The couple noticed the mystery wedding crasher only when they received photos of their big day – a tall man in a dark suit, with a noticeable look of puzzlement on his face.

They quizzed relatives, friends and staff at the venue, even asking the wedding photographer about the guest. No-one could provide any answers.

But now, after an internet sleuth joined the search, the mystery man has finally been identified.

Andrew Hillhouse, who was supposed to be a guest at another wedding two miles away, told BBC Scotland News he only realised he was at the wrong venue when the bride walked down the aisle.

Michelle and John were married on 20 November 2021 at the Carlton Hotel in Prestwick, surrounded by family and friends – or so they thought.

“It wasn’t until I got the first few photos back from the photographer and me and my husband were looking at them that we went ‘who’s that?’,” recalls Michelle, who lives in Kilmarnock.

“We started asking our parents first of all, then going through my aunties and the rest of the family, then my friends. Absolutely no-one knew who he was.

“Then we got on to the Carlton Hotel if they had an idea, but nope. We wondered if this was someone who had been helping bring the register down, but not a single person knew who he was.”

A Facebook post by the bride did not provide any answers either, and as time passed trying to solve the mystery fell by the wayside.

However Michelle told the BBC it kept niggling away at the back of her mind.

“It would come into my head and I’d be like ‘someone must know who this guy is’. I said a few times to my husband ‘are you sure you don’t know this guy, is he maybe from your work?’

“We wondered if he was a mad stalker.”

Other theories included a new partner of the daughter of family friends or someone helping wedding photographer Steven Withers.

Then an appeal to content creator Dazza, asking him to share their pictures and attempt to track the wedding crasher down, finally revealed the man’s identity.

On that same Saturday in November 2021 Andrew Hillhouse was running late for a wedding. With five minutes to spare, he pulled up at the venue he’d been told to go to, hurried in, and took his seat.

His partner David was to be among the bridal party, and Andrew was relieved to be there on time.

It was when the bridal party began walking down the aisle that a sinking feeling crept in.

“I assumed David was in another room with the bride so the music starts up, everyone turns around to look at the bride and the second I see her I’m like ‘oh no, that’s not Michaela, what’s going on here?’,” he says.

“But I was committed at that point, because you can’t walk out of a wedding in progress so I thought I better double down. I’m 6ft 2in and I’m taller than everyone else, so I was trying to hunch down a bit and get out the way.

“I was just sitting there thinking ‘please, let this be over with’.”

Andrew’s partner had given him completely the wrong venue – the wedding he was supposed to be attending was taking place at the Great Western Hotel in Ayr.

He only knew his partner and the bride to be, which is why he didn’t raise any eyebrows at not recognising anyone else in attendance.

“There was a piper playing outside, and all these well dressed people, so I thought I was in the right place.”

Once the ceremony ended, Andrew, who is from Troon, headed for the exit to phone David, only to find he couldn’t escape just yet.

“I make a beeline for the doors, and hear ‘can we get everyone together for a picture’ and I was just going ‘noooo’ inside.

“So you can see my big head in the back row, trying to get out the way.”

Andrew was finally able to get out, though he admittedly took a drink of cola on the way. He phoned his partner to ask where they were, and it was only then he realised how far away he’d been sent.

“He told me they were taking photos at the fountain, and I’m looking around going ‘where is this fountain?’ Eventually I asked where they were and he tells me they’re at the hotel in Ayr.”

He was then able to go the actual wedding he was planning to attend, where his mishap provided a fun tale for the other guests.

Finally a friend sent him the social media appeal, and he was able to explain online why he was there four years ago.

Andrew’s explanation for his unintentional gate-crashing on Dazza’s social media post garnered more than 600 comments and over 29,000 likes.

It has also put him in touch with the bride Michelle – the pair are now Facebook friends and have since met in person to share a laugh about their unlikely connection.

“I could not stop laughing,” says Michelle.

“We can’t believe we’ve found out who he is after almost four years.”

“Michelle said I’d been haunting her for years,” Andrew adds.

“It was much easier to crash a wedding than I’d have thought – I was in and out like an assassin, even if I only got a bottle of cola for it all!”

People who love sharing their passion for the world of Jane Austen say they have been busier than ever preparing to celebrate the 250th anniversary of the author’s birth.

Theresa Roche is a Jane Austen walking tour guide, as well as a historian and actress. She said she finds the whole era fascinating.

“My guests feel that they’re living in it. Especially if they wear the costumes. I believe they feel that they’re truly back in time. The architecture was designed to make Bath the premier resort of frivolity and fashion of the 18th Century.”

Bath’s Jane Austen Festival returns on Friday and people have been arriving in the city from all over the world.

The festival – which runs for 10 days until 21 September – includes balls and screenings, a costumed promenade, fayres and tours.

Ms Roche said she loves telling the story of the Pump Room, which Austen herself would have visited and included in a number of her novels.

She said: “It was a place of scheming and plotting.

“The visitor’s book here was the dating app of the 18 Century – a battle of fans and parasols and fluttering eyelashes.”

Asked whether she believes Austen actually hated Bath – which is a theory often suggested – she said: “I think she had a mixed experience.

“When they first moved here, the Reverend George Austen was able to afford a beautiful house, number 4 Sydney Place. But he couldn’t afford the new rent and they moved to Green Park where he became ill.

“I think this is when she might have started hating Bath.”

Ms Roche thinks Austen will always be a treasured literary figure.

“The more people find out about her, the more they want to read her work,” she said.

“I admire her for producing portrayals of women who are not perfect. She creates heroines who are flawed, who make mistakes, say the wrong thing and go through a learning journey. That’s why she connects with me.”

The Jane Austen Dancers of Bath have also been deep in rehearsals for the festival.

They call what they do “an escape from the cares of today” and for 30 years they have run classes, held balls and performed at events.

Over the years they have learned all about the etiquette, fashion, history and the social customs of the Regency and late Georgian period, and say they love sharing the finer details with others.

The group’s dance director, Liz Bartlett, said: “People come to dance for different reasons. Some are interested in the music, some in the dancing, some in the costumes, some have seen TV programmes, so it’s bringing people together from all walks of life and just enjoying themselves.”