On the Greek isle of Rhodes, it’s the best news Thomas Cook has had all week.
After a rollercoaster few days in which the tour operator with which he shares his name collapsed, and his wedding – arranged through the firm – looked to be off, Cook saw his dreams come true.
Although the “surprise” the travel company had promised him when he booked the nuptials was not the one he expected, the Briton finally tied the knot with his longstanding partner, Amelia Binch, in the historic resort of Lindos. And all thanks to local businesses stepping in to help out.
“Mr Cook has got to marry his bride,” said Vallantis Lapis, the local town hall president, who officiated the ceremony under bright blue skies in the gardens of a hotel overlooking the sea. “They’re such a lovely couple,” he told the Guardian. “We were always going to do our best to make this happen.”
The big day was far from certain even 48 hours before the east Midlands pair exchanged vows. They flew into Rhodes with their two young daughters, Lucy and Alice, barely a week before the UK’s oldest travel firm went into liquidation.
Its collapse meant that half of the couple’s guests, including the 29-year-old groom’s best man, were caught up in the travel chaos and unable to reach the island. Within hours of the bankruptcy being announced, it had become apparent that Cook, an employee of Rolls-Royce, was going to struggle to marry at all. The £10,000 spent on the trip appeared to have been blown.
“Thomas Cook promised us a surprise on our wedding because of my name, but this was not the surprise we were expecting,” he told the news site Nottinghamshire Live. “I am just devastated. We have got 30-plus friends and family coming out, half are stuck at home in limbo … I have been planning this for two years and it has all gone to pot. We have paid for everything. It is shattering.”
Binch, 27, a beautician, bemoaned that instead of looking forward to the special day “we are sat here stressed out”.
Like thousands of others stranded in Greece following the operator’s fall, they had also been informed they could be airlifted out of the country by the UK’s Civil Aviation Authority “any time”.
At that point the Lindos Princess hotel weighed in, agreeing to foot part of the bill, including the flowers and champagne that Thomas Cook had originally pledged to lay on.
“We were told by the proprietor: ‘Do what you can, make it work,’” said Giorgos Bakas, the four-star establishment’s general manager, confessing that staff, at first, couldn’t believe the groom’s name. “When we realised it wasn’t a mistake and saw how upset the couple were, we rallied.”
Like most resorts in Rhodes, Lindos is becoming increasingly popular among Britons who prefer to tie the knot abroad. A civil ceremony on the island will set couples back just €70 in registry office fees.
“We do well over 300 weddings a year,” enthused Lapis, who ran a local cafe before being elected to the post recently. “Every ceremony is special but Mr Cook’s has been doubly so today.”
