CAMERAS may have been banned from church while reality TV star Katie Price and her new husband Alex Reid had their wedding blessed, but the Mirror has the next best thing.

While paparazzi gathered outside St Paul's Church in Woldingham on Sunday, July 4, Caterham-based cartoonist Helen Pointer was on the inside – armed with pen and paper.

Former hospital matron Helen, 52, of Tillingdown Hill, was one of a select band of hand-picked invitees at the most-reported wedding of the year.

In an exclusive interview, she spilled the beans on what happened behind the scenes and screens at the wedding, which is still the talking point of the village.

She told the Mirror: "It was all very mysterious. I had a call from someone acting as her agent – but they wouldn't tell me who I would be drawing.

"We were meant to meet before the big day, but she was having a 'moment' over her shoes and so we didn't. But the day itself was something else – we all had to go through a double ended security gazebo and check in our cameras and mobile phones.

And there was such a drama on the day – all the to-ing and fro-ing. It felt like I had to sign a 10-page document just to be allowed in."

Fortunately for Helen, the new Mr and Mrs Reid both loved her sketches, made as she walked around during the ceremony.

She said: "Katie loved the way I drew her hair. And she said she hadn't noticed how lovely Alex's mouth was before.

"I wandered around drawing all the guests – to be honest, I didn't know who most of them were. But when my children watched [the ITV wedding documentary] they certainly did."

Helen said she has only ever had one dissatisfied customer – former Tory MP Edwina Currie.

She explained: "She is the only person to hand a drawing back. I'm still not sure what she didn't like about it – I didn't draw her with egg on her face or wrapped around the prime minister."

To see more of Helen's work go to www.drawnbyhelen.co.uk.