BRIDE Emma Manston and her new husband Charles were left without their glad rags less than two hours before their wedding reception.

Ms Manston, now Mrs Morton, is furious that West County Cleaners, with a branch in The Brittox, Devizes, refuse to cough up for the taxi that had to bring her dress and Mr Morton's suit all the way from Bath so they could greet their guests at the reception at the Corn Exchange.

The couple were married in Las Vegas on August 14 and had organised a reception in Devizes for friends and family members who were unable to accompany them to Nevada for the very special wedding service.

The Corn Exchange was booked for 3pm on August 21 and two days before they took their wedding clothes, her ivory and white dress from Monsoon and Mr Morton's dinner suit, into West County Cleaners.

Mrs Morton said: "We explained the importance and the manageress promised my dress and Charlie's suit would be ready for collection on Saturday by midday.

"Imagine our horror when we arrived at 1.15pm under two hours before our reception was due to start to find our clothes were not there.

"After 15 minutes frantic phoning, they were tracked down to Bath to where the shop contracts its cleaning. There was another 20 minutes of to-ing and fro-ing before I had had enough and decided that the clothes should be put in a taxi. We had a reception to go to and nothing to wear.

"We then had to call the Bath-based company ourselves, arrange a taxi and wait for it to arrive which it did ten minutes after our reception had already started. We were furious and it ruined the mood of the day. We were 30 minutes late for our own reception and £50 out of pocket."

But worse was to come the following Monday when the shop's owner refused to pay for the taxi fare, saying it was not his responsibility to ensure the couples' clothes arrived on time. He insisted they should take it up with the Bath company.

Mrs Morton added: "After a heated discussion with a member of staff it was agreed that if we took the receipt in, the owner would send us a cheque for the £50." But so far they have received nothing.

John Stafford, the company clerk of West County Cleaners, based at their Warminster headquarters, said: "Our terms and conditions are stated quite clearly. We are not responsible for returning clothes at any specific time.

"We did offer to deliver the clothes in time for the reception but this lady took it upon herself to order a taxi. She can't expect us to pay for that."

Mrs Morton disputes the company made any such offer.