A forty-nine year old Scottish groom hoping to fly out to meet his bride and marry in Greece found himself and eleven of his wedding party stranded at Manchester airport.

Robert Chalmers, an Architect from Edinburgh had purchased tickets for flights to the beautiful Greek isle of Skopelos in the western Aegean Sea, just east of mainland Greece with doomed tour operator XL.

His Fiancée Rachel Farey had already arrived on the island and was busy preparing for the couples nuptials.

After hearing of XL’s downfall, Rachel also from Edinburgh ,leapt into action and re-arranged the entire wedding ceremony, including organizing new flights online with Swissair for her husband to be and other stranded members of the wedding party, costing a further £3,000.

Rachel even met with the mayor of Skopelos who agreed that he would marry the pair on any day of this week.

The couple’s happy day had already come in at a cost of £5,000 and the desperate bride admits to calling her bank manager back in the UK to arrange an overdraft in order to cover the additional flight costs.

Forty-five year old Rachel said of the events:-

“I have had to call my bank and hit the overdraft but it was worth it just to see them all arriving on the island. I’m just delighted it can all go ahead as planned.”

The couple will finally marry at noon today in front of 46 family and friends.