IT was far from the ideal start to married life.
A Huddersfield couple spent their wedding night apart – after the bride left their reception to collect some clothes and found herself snowed in!
George Venizelos and Michelle Bartholomew had tied the knot at the Cedar Court Hotel in Ainley Top, Huddersfield, on Monday.
After the ceremony and the reception, Michelle drove home to collect some clothes but became trapped by the blizzards which brought six inches of snow to the town and caused chaos on the roads.
She was unable to make the journey back to the hotel and the couple were not reunited until yesterday afternoon, when they set off for a honeymoon in the Lake District.
Michelle, who has run education projects for local students at the University of Huddersfield, said that the journey home from the hotel took her 90 minutes, instead of the usual 20.
She said: “There was a lot of traffic, and a lot of traffic was at a standstill.
“People had abandoned their cars and there was just so much snow and ice on the roads it was absolutely terrible.
“We managed to get home after an hour-and-a-half with a lot of difficulty.
“I spoke to George and we made a decision that safety comes first and it was best for me to stay at home and not to go back to the hotel unfortunately.
“It was something I just didn't envisage at all.”
Mr Venizelos said that the wedding ceremony was “perfect”, but at about 6pm the couple's guests started to set off home, worried about the snow.
He said: “Michelle went home to get changed to get a rest and unfortunately she was stuck in the snow.
“She couldn’t come out of the garage. I couldn't do anything.
“I said: ‘Don’t worry, we have our whole lives ahead of us’.
“So I spent the night on my own. Not a very good start!”
