Getting married in the UK can cost a princely sum - a wedding at home now carries an average price tag of £20,000.
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Jetting off overseas to get married can be a much cheaper option, saving thousands of pounds, so it's no wonder that more British couples are ditching the traditional church nuptials and tying the knot abroad. According to figures from Mintel, one in six couples are now opting to holiday in the sun whilst they get hitched...
However, some of those couples who booked their weddings through travel company Thomas Cook are wishing they'd stayed at home.
Thomas Cook's wedding brochures promise 'personal service', 'romantic locations' and 'precious memories', but for two of the brides Watchdog spoke to, they received quite the opposite.
Few weddings go without a hitch or two, but surely when paying a big company, a bride should be able to count on some things? Like having the right venue...
Theresa Lyttle enlisted Thomas Cook to organise her wedding in Cyprus last year. She paid the company £7,000 to handle everything, including booking her chosen venue, Paphos Town Hall.
A year before the wedding, Theresa heard from friends who live out in Paphos. They'd been to visit the Town Hall and had found there was no booking for Theresa's wedding, as arranged. Theresa promptly contacted Thomas Cook who told her that there wouldn't be a booking in her name because that wasn't the venue she'd booked.
Shocked and disappointed, Theresa spoke to Thomas Cook again. This time, they said she could in fact have the venue she wanted but only if she moved the day of the wedding. Theresa dutifully agreed and changed the date. She even re-sent all her invites.
Unfortunately, that wasn't the end of the story. On arrival in Cyprus, Theresa says she was handed a letter which listed a totally different date and different venue for her wedding.
The new venue was outdoors which wasn't what Theresa had set her heart on. Her chosen venue of Paphos Town Hall was indoors.
Instead of putting her feet up and relaxing in the lead up to her wedding, Theresa was left to frantically reorganise everything herself - something she had paid Thomas Cook to do for her. Thomas Cook didn't even help her re-book the photographer and flowers.
Theresa recalls she spent "most of the week in tears" and her wedding was not quite the perfect day she'd envisaged. Instead she was "on tenterhooks, thinking what else is going to go wrong?"
Thomas Cook only saw fit to offer Theresa £160.
No venue, flowers or photographer is surely bad enough, but another Thomas Cook bride, Beccy Bezani, found she had no wedding at all.
Beccy and her husband Alan booked their wedding in the Dominican Republic for more than £3,000. But on arrival in March, they found that Thomas Cook had failed to book it.
Unbelievably, it got worse for the couple - they were on the island for just two weeks but one of those weeks, they later discovered, was a religious holiday - so no judge would be available to perform the wedding. Worse still, on the day she found their wedding wasn't booked, Beccy discovered that their wedding co-ordinator was also about to going on holiday!
Legally, couples have to be over in the Dominican Republic for five days before they can get married. The impending Easter holy week meant Beccy and Alan had little choice but to get married in an office, in the presence of a judge - and before six of their guests had actually arrived. Needless to say, the couple were not at all happy. They didn't even get a chance to wear their wedding outfits as they didn't think it would be right to wear them during the office ceremony!
To save her remaining guests the disappointment of missing her actual wedding, Beccy and her mum organised a 'fake' wedding ceremony on the beach. The couple said their vows and exchanged rings in front of the hotel receptionist who pretended to be the judge.
Beccy says she just feels sad that this ceremony wasn't her actual wedding day:
"It didn't feel like we were getting married, it just felt like a joke really. It was one of the worst days of my life."
After all that, Thomas Cook didn't even refund the couple the full cost of the wedding. They eventually offered Beccy £3,000 - but this was supposed to be shared out between the couple and their thirty disgruntled guests.
For the company that claims to have been "perfecting weddings for over a decade", it's certainly disappointing for these newlyweds. But surely - with even more experience of planning the perfect holiday - customers can have confidence in Thomas Cook when it comes to their honeymoon?
For Matthew and Victoria Andrews, the honeymoon was over before it began. Their friends and family helped them pay £5,000 pounds for a fortnight in St Lucia, as a wedding present.
The brochure was inviting but the reality was anything but. The couple found they were booked into a 5 star resort which fell a long way short of luxury - it was run down with graffiti on the ground and a 'Paradise' pool which was "disgusting" - a complete let down and disappointment for the couple.
As well as towels riddled with holes, the Andrews discovered a beach which looked nothing like the brochure which Thomas Cook had shown them. Instead of being a "huge expanse of white crystal sands and blue crystal water", Matthew says they found "a run-down sand pit".
Thomas Cook later moved the couple to another hotel but again, problems were lurking. The first room contained mould, damp and a big puddle of water. The second room had broken furniture, stained curtains and chipped walls.
After this catalogue of faults, the Andrews reached breaking point and decided to come home a week early. For Victoria, the embarrassment of having to return home and admit to their loved ones that their honeymoon was "awful" was too much to bear.
Weddings and honeymoons are once in a lifetime experiences which these newlyweds can never get back. Sounds like Thomas Cook need to go back and reconsider the vows they made to their customers...
A spokesperson for Thomas Cook UK & Ireland said:
"We know how special weddings and honeymoons are and we work hard to ensure that anyone celebrating with us has an experience that they can cherish. The cases that Watchdog has shown tonight - however isolated - are upsetting and we'd like to say how truly sorry we are for the distress caused. Each year we arrange more than 15,000 weddings and honeymoons and we are proud to have some amazing feedback on both our service and our people.
LyttleWe can understand Mrs Lyttle's upset at having had the incorrect wedding venue booked, and we'd like to apologise fully for this human error. We have been in contact to discuss how we can make it up to the Lyttles.
BezaniWe appreciate that couples would like all their friends and family at their wedding but the couple had been advised in advance that their actual wedding date would fall between 29 March and 6 April and it's unfortunate that some of their guests arrived after the confirmed date. We're sorry for the upset this caused and we are pleased that the Bezanis accepted the offer we made earlier this year.
AndrewsWe were sorry to hear of the problems experienced by Mr and Mrs Andrews with their hotel and we've been liaising with Sandals Resorts following their complaint. We're pleased to confirm that Sandals are discussing how they can rectify this with the Andrews.
Note:
Customers with bookings for weddings and honeymoons who wish to contact us can do so on the telephone numbers given at the time of booking or by visiting the store in which they booked.
A wedding in the sun should be more fun...
In order to see this content you need to have both Javascript enabled and Flash installed. Visit BBC Webwise for full instructions. If you're reading via RSS, you'll need to visit the blog to access this content.
Jetting off overseas to get married can be a much cheaper option, saving thousands of pounds, so it's no wonder that more British couples are ditching the traditional church nuptials and tying the knot abroad. According to figures from Mintel, one in six couples are now opting to holiday in the sun whilst they get hitched...
However, some of those couples who booked their weddings through travel company Thomas Cook are wishing they'd stayed at home.
Thomas Cook's wedding brochures promise 'personal service', 'romantic locations' and 'precious memories', but for two of the brides Watchdog spoke to, they received quite the opposite.
Few weddings go without a hitch or two, but surely when paying a big company, a bride should be able to count on some things? Like having the right venue...
Theresa Lyttle enlisted Thomas Cook to organise her wedding in Cyprus last year. She paid the company £7,000 to handle everything, including booking her chosen venue, Paphos Town Hall.
A year before the wedding, Theresa heard from friends who live out in Paphos. They'd been to visit the Town Hall and had found there was no booking for Theresa's wedding, as arranged. Theresa promptly contacted Thomas Cook who told her that there wouldn't be a booking in her name because that wasn't the venue she'd booked.
Shocked and disappointed, Theresa spoke to Thomas Cook again. This time, they said she could in fact have the venue she wanted but only if she moved the day of the wedding. Theresa dutifully agreed and changed the date. She even re-sent all her invites.
Unfortunately, that wasn't the end of the story. On arrival in Cyprus, Theresa says she was handed a letter which listed a totally different date and different venue for her wedding.
The new venue was outdoors which wasn't what Theresa had set her heart on. Her chosen venue of Paphos Town Hall was indoors.
Instead of putting her feet up and relaxing in the lead up to her wedding, Theresa was left to frantically reorganise everything herself - something she had paid Thomas Cook to do for her. Thomas Cook didn't even help her re-book the photographer and flowers.
Theresa recalls she spent "most of the week in tears" and her wedding was not quite the perfect day she'd envisaged. Instead she was "on tenterhooks, thinking what else is going to go wrong?"
Thomas Cook only saw fit to offer Theresa £160.
No venue, flowers or photographer is surely bad enough, but another Thomas Cook bride, Beccy Bezani, found she had no wedding at all.
Beccy and her husband Alan booked their wedding in the Dominican Republic for more than £3,000. But on arrival in March, they found that Thomas Cook had failed to book it.
Unbelievably, it got worse for the couple - they were on the island for just two weeks but one of those weeks, they later discovered, was a religious holiday - so no judge would be available to perform the wedding. Worse still, on the day she found their wedding wasn't booked, Beccy discovered that their wedding co-ordinator was also about to going on holiday!
Legally, couples have to be over in the Dominican Republic for five days before they can get married. The impending Easter holy week meant Beccy and Alan had little choice but to get married in an office, in the presence of a judge - and before six of their guests had actually arrived. Needless to say, the couple were not at all happy. They didn't even get a chance to wear their wedding outfits as they didn't think it would be right to wear them during the office ceremony!
To save her remaining guests the disappointment of missing her actual wedding, Beccy and her mum organised a 'fake' wedding ceremony on the beach. The couple said their vows and exchanged rings in front of the hotel receptionist who pretended to be the judge.
Beccy says she just feels sad that this ceremony wasn't her actual wedding day:
"It didn't feel like we were getting married, it just felt like a joke really. It was one of the worst days of my life."
After all that, Thomas Cook didn't even refund the couple the full cost of the wedding. They eventually offered Beccy £3,000 - but this was supposed to be shared out between the couple and their thirty disgruntled guests.
For the company that claims to have been "perfecting weddings for over a decade", it's certainly disappointing for these newlyweds. But surely - with even more experience of planning the perfect holiday - customers can have confidence in Thomas Cook when it comes to their honeymoon?
For Matthew and Victoria Andrews, the honeymoon was over before it began. Their friends and family helped them pay £5,000 pounds for a fortnight in St Lucia, as a wedding present.
The brochure was inviting but the reality was anything but. The couple found they were booked into a 5 star resort which fell a long way short of luxury - it was run down with graffiti on the ground and a 'Paradise' pool which was "disgusting" - a complete let down and disappointment for the couple.
As well as towels riddled with holes, the Andrews discovered a beach which looked nothing like the brochure which Thomas Cook had shown them. Instead of being a "huge expanse of white crystal sands and blue crystal water", Matthew says they found "a run-down sand pit".
Thomas Cook later moved the couple to another hotel but again, problems were lurking. The first room contained mould, damp and a big puddle of water. The second room had broken furniture, stained curtains and chipped walls.
After this catalogue of faults, the Andrews reached breaking point and decided to come home a week early. For Victoria, the embarrassment of having to return home and admit to their loved ones that their honeymoon was "awful" was too much to bear.
Weddings and honeymoons are once in a lifetime experiences which these newlyweds can never get back. Sounds like Thomas Cook need to go back and reconsider the vows they made to their customers...
A spokesperson for Thomas Cook UK & Ireland said:
"We know how special weddings and honeymoons are and we work hard to ensure that anyone celebrating with us has an experience that they can cherish. The cases that Watchdog has shown tonight - however isolated - are upsetting and we'd like to say how truly sorry we are for the distress caused. Each year we arrange more than 15,000 weddings and honeymoons and we are proud to have some amazing feedback on both our service and our people.
LyttleWe can understand Mrs Lyttle's upset at having had the incorrect wedding venue booked, and we'd like to apologise fully for this human error. We have been in contact to discuss how we can make it up to the Lyttles.
BezaniWe appreciate that couples would like all their friends and family at their wedding but the couple had been advised in advance that their actual wedding date would fall between 29 March and 6 April and it's unfortunate that some of their guests arrived after the confirmed date. We're sorry for the upset this caused and we are pleased that the Bezanis accepted the offer we made earlier this year.
AndrewsWe were sorry to hear of the problems experienced by Mr and Mrs Andrews with their hotel and we've been liaising with Sandals Resorts following their complaint. We're pleased to confirm that Sandals are discussing how they can rectify this with the Andrews.
Note:
Customers with bookings for weddings and honeymoons who wish to contact us can do so on the telephone numbers given at the time of booking or by visiting the store in which they booked.
A wedding in the sun should be more fun...