When Mike Goodhall and Heidi Loader were married on a Caribbean beach in front of family and friends, it had all the makings of a dream wedding. But that dream began to fade as soon as they returned home to find the marriage was not legal - because of a simple spelling mistake.
The couple discovered that a clerk in the Dominican Republic had misspelt Mr Goodhall's surname as Goodhael on the wedding certificate, rendering the union null and void.
Mr Goodhall returned the document to Thomas Cook, which organised the wedding, after the travel company offered to sort out the problem and get it reissued.
But the original certificate has been lost - and six months after their beach ceremony, the couple still cannot officially use their married names or apply for passports, bank accounts or a joint mortgage because they do not have the right paperwork.
Mr Goodhall, 37, whose middle name is Stephen, said: "We aren't legally married and that's devastating. "It's a kick in the teeth - and it's all over a missing letter L. Thomas Cook gave us a letter saying we're married, but no banks will accept it."
He and 34-year-old Miss Loader paid more than £4,000 to Thomas Cook to organise their marriage last November at the Punta Cana beach resort.
They paid £2,600 for the wedding, which included flights, hotel, cake, flowers, champagne, and a judge to conduct the ceremony, and another £1,500 for Thomas Cook to handle the legalities of registering the marriage and getting the certificate sent to England.
The couple became aware of the problem with their certificate only when they returned from honeymoon and were having the document translated.
2 comments:
My wife's gone to check our certificate. She says, "You never know your luck". Wish I knew what she meant by that comment.
Hehehehe
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