Ref. 28174-04 INSET: Stained wedding dressA BRIDE says her wedding day was ruined when her white dress became stained with bright red dye just moments before she was due to walk up the aisle.

Marie Wright, 27, of Simnel Close, Grange Park, West Swindon, became aware of the stain as the Rolls Royce she was riding in pulled up to let her out.

Her dress had become stuck to its cherry red seats and, when she got up, she discovered red streaks from the seat's dye.

The limousine firm, Bristol-based Abbott Wedding Cars, has apologised, refunded its £295 fee and undertaken to have the dress cleaned.

Shop worker Marie said: "It looked awful. It was a big, hideous patch, not just a little stain. I was horrified and I didn't want to get out of the car."

Even though her veil covered some of the stain Marie was worried that the mark would still be visible.

"It did ruin my day," she said.

"When I look back at my wedding, the memory is not how good it was but about the stained dress."

It took Marie and her 25-year-old optician husband, Steve, two years to arrange and pay for the civil wedding, which took place in August at the Aztec West Hotel, in Bristol.

Marie said she was now considering legal action against Abbott Wedding Cars, from which the couple hired the Rolls Royce and one other car.

The company said it would be handing the dress back to the couple on December 21.

"We regret it we didn't set out to spoil anyone's dress," said an Abbott spokeswoman, who declined to give her name.

"We have been in business for ten years and this is the first time a major thing like this has happened."

She said it had been a hot day and the drive across Bristol had been unusually long a combination which may have caused dye to rub off the seats of the 1970s Rolls.

Abbott has since covered the car seats with a cream cotton sheet.

Andy Tate