JONATHAN Blake, the archbishop who conducted Jade Goody’s wedding ceremony, has spoken to News Shopper about the extraordinary event.

Mr Blake, 52, of Danson Crescent, Welling, has been unable to talk about the wedding until now because of Jade’s magazine deal to raise cash for her two sons.

He said Jade had been determined to fill her last days “with as much light as she could bring.

“She is a tremendous example to all of us.”

He added: “One of the most poignant aspects of the day was this extraordinary combination of great joy and hope and life, and the sense of sadness.”

Mr Blake added: “During the service, Jade went from ecstatic joy, to tumbling tears.”

The invitation to officiate at the wedding had come “utterly out of the blue”, when his phone rang while he was on holiday in Teneriffe with his wife and three sons.

He said he agreed after discussing the situation with his wife Annette, and flew back home two days later, with much concern at leaving his young family behind.

Mr Blake was invited to take the service because Jade’s trainer, Kevin Adams, had been present at a baptism service Mr Blake had conducted and had spoken with him afterwards.

Mr Blake said: “It was just a chance encounter.

“When Jade decided she wanted to get married, I was the one he thought of.”

He met Jade for the first time three days before the wedding, when he went to the Royal Marsden Hospital to talk with her and her fiance, Jack Tweed, about the service.

He said: “When I met her, she had been undergoing treatment and had seen lots of visitors and she was quite weak and in a lot of pain.”

“I knew I would not have time to do a lot of preparation work.”

He talked with the couple about choosing their vows.

Mr Blake said: “It was very important they chose their own vows.

“Jack chose a complete vow from a choice I had written, while Jade took a pick and mix attitude from two others in the list. "

Mr Blake then had two days to put the service together.

He said: “They handed over responsibility to me to create the service.

“I was very aware of not wanting to prolong it because I did not know how she would be, physically, on the day.

“Then I set about writing something unique for them.”

He saw Jade again on the day of the wedding.

He said: “The house was in a whirlwind of preparations and was bustling with people.

“Many people, when they are dying, start slowly shutting down their lives but Jade’s house was teeming with life.”

The service lasted about 45 minutes, including 15 minutes to complete the legal requirements with the registrar.

This Is Local London: Jade Goody and husband Jack Tweed

Mr Blake said: “It was extraordinary.

“When I had seen Jade days before, she had been so weak, but at the wedding she had a huge adrenaline surge and was fully focused on the event.

“The wedding had given her a tremendous lift and she was full of seemingly irrepressible energy during the day, like no bride I have ever seen before.

“She was so full of energy, so thoughtful of others and living the day to the absolute full.

“Jade’s face was so happy. She was laughing with abandon during the service, and then at other times, she was in tears.”

He added: “She managed to keep herself together despite the medication and her conflicting emotions.

“She showed extraordinary strength.”

He said chairs had been set out so Jade and Jack could sit down for the ceremony, but she insisted on standing.

The couple had asked him to wear his clerical vestments for the service and Jade also asked for a “marriage candle” which the couple light at their wedding and then on their anniversary every year.

It burns for 240 hours.

Mr Blake said, as he had no time to prepare, he had been forced to drive to Bluewater to buy one.

He said: “The service went without a blip.

“I was determined they would be word perfect, so I only gave them short phrases to repeat.

“Jade was making jokes and comments all the way through and adding to the wording.”

"At the end she asked to sit down, so they both sat and her boys came over.”

After the service, Jade then faced a long photoshoot for the magazine.

Mr Blake said: “She was very upfront and in command and clear about what she wanted.

“Everyone knew who was in charge.”

After the photographs, Jade lay down for a while.

He said: “The nurse had said the reception might have to go on without Jade, but she was unstoppable and in full flight.

“The guests were all sat at separate tables and she went to every table and greeted every person.

“And the table she went to first, was the one with the group of people who have forged a friendship with her, and each other, during their hospital chemotherapy sessions.

“Jack was very moved by Jade and was very proud to be by her side and about becoming her husband and being part of her world.

“He loves her and he loves what he experiences with and through her.

“He delighted in the day and had a very big smile on his face.”

Mr Blake said he also enjoyed the reception and met a number of celebrities and well as chatting to Jade’s two sons whom he described as “incredibly well behaved and natural despite cameras being inches from their faces.”

He added: “At times it could be extraordinarily intrusive.”

He said: “I only knew Jade from what I had read in the papers and by watching Big Brother.

“She was one of those people who orbits around us in a celebrity world.

“I had never given much thought to what she was actually like."

Mr Blake added: “When I first met her, she was weak and tired and in pain.

“At the wedding she was a vibrant, confident, feisty person with lots to say, lots of ideas and a quick mind.

“And despite all the things that have happened to her, she still has an innocence and an appreciation of things which are important and special.

“It is lovely, and refreshing, that celebrity has not squeezed that out of her.”

He said he has no problem with Jade selling the rights of her wedding to a magazine to raise money for her sons’ future.

He said: “Some people have been sour and critical but most people have been 100 per cent behind her, as we all should be.

“I hope she will have enough time when all the cameras are gone to be with her boys and her loved ones.

“If Jade is able to be a symbol to people of how someone who has everything can meet this terrible situation bravely, and with grace, and laugh in the face of death, it will send a positive example to others in their own lives, and that would be a wonderful thing.”

THE COUPLE’S WEDDING VOWS

These were the wedding vows the couple made at the ceremony:

Jade’s vow: “You are so handsome to me. You are my life, my light, my hope and my joy.

“I will treasure you, I will cherish you, I will be utterly devoted to you.

“Through the laughter and the tears, through the darkness and the light, I will be your eternal love, your constant companion, your closest friend.

“Pledging to you, my deepest commitment.

“And this is my solemn vow.”

Jack’s vow: “No-one has touched my life like you.

“No-one can compare with you.

“No-one else has made my heart leap and my soul dance, nor set my mind alight with joy.

“In your presence I have found my rest, my home and my self.

“In your arms, I have known such peace.

“Today I give myself to you.

“I am yours, and ever shall it be.”