A WOULD-BE wedding couple feel bitter after a holiday operator refused to change the date of their £23,000 bridal booking because of their child’s medical emergency.

Bride and groom-to-be Ross Pressnell and Samantha Ware, from Seasalter, asked Virgin Holidays to put back their 17-person trip to Florida after Samantha’s six-year-old son Dennis broke his arm.

He was told by a doctor not to fly for six weeks, but the group was due to fly out on July 2.

But the operators would not budge and told the family they risked losing 90 per cent of their money by cancelling and could not postpone.

Rather than losing thousands of pounds, their 20 guests will fly to the USA without the bride and groom.

Mr Pressnell, of Cordingham Close, said: “We are absolutely gutted. Our dream wedding has turned into a nightmare. I cried for two days after the accident.

"All we wanted was to put it back until after Dennis’s arm has healed. All we wanted was a bit of flexibility from Virgin."

The couple say they will marry next summer instead.

A spokesman for Virgin Holidays said it would need at least one month’s notice to change any booking.

* For the full story see the Whitstable Gazette.