Batley bridal shop saves the day for Don’t Tell The Bride couple

Ian and Jay Lettice tied the knot earlier this year in a somewhat unusual fashion by having the entire process filmed for BBC Three programme Don’t Tell The Bride.

Jack-the-lad Ian used the £12,000 budget to fly him and his two best men out to Thailand to buy cut-price suits and a bargain wedding dress.

But disaster struck when the £1,000 wedding dress, which had travelled back in the bottom of his suitcase, did not fit and some of the jewels had fallen off in transit.

In a desperate plea for help, Ian contacted Ever After Bridal Wear in Upper Commercial Street, Batley.

Owner Sallyanne Hendry said she had received orders on short notice but never a day behind the wedding.

“We have had brides coming in around six weeks before their big day but this was something else,” she said.

“Ian called me said he really needed a dress so we took Jay’s measurements and started having a look through the stock to see what we had.

“My daughter Katie modelled a few of the dresses for him and he saw one he liked.”

Within an hour, Jay from Derby visited the Batley shop to try the gown on.

Luckily for the groom, she loved her new dress and the wedding went ahead.

“The whole experience was so surreal,” Sallyanne said.

“It is very true when they say on the programme that the groom has all the power because if he did not get a dress then the wedding was off.

“We were really pleased to help him because he was in a pickle.”

Ian, of Wakefield, married his blushing bride in extravagant fashion as she was lowered on a throne into a theatre in his home town as part of their 1920s-themed wedding.

Inspiration for the wedding came from Ian’s dad Dennis, who worked as a doorman at Batley Variety Club.

Viewers watched Ian and Dennis visit the Frontier nightclub, which attracted stars including Shirley Bassey, Tom Jones and Louis Armstrong in its heyday.

The happy couple also had their wedding reception at the Princess Ballroom in Birstall.

After watching the show on television, Sallyanne said the response had been positive.

“It was really good for Batley as a town,” she said. “It was nice to see a local bridal shop being recognised for saving their big day.”