14269/1PUB managers Ben Cox and Heather MacNaughton were forced to abandon their planned wedding in Cuba when Hurricane Ivan struck, but against the odds they managed to organise a ceremony in Spain.

The couple, who run the Black Swan Hotel in the Market Place, Devizes, had planned their wedding in secret.

Family, friends and colleagues were unaware of the wedding and thought the couple were just having a week's holiday.

When the pair arrived at the check-in desk at Gatwick Airport on September 10 they were told that flights to Cuba had been cancelled because of the hurricane.

They spent the next few hours trying to find alternative resorts to hold their wedding.

The only resort offered was in Cyprus which they did not want.

By this stage they had given up on their wedding plans and decided to take up their tour operator's offer of a holiday in the Costa Brava in Spain.

Mrs MacNaughton Cox, 31, who is originally from Perth in Australia, said: "We tried to find somewhere which could organise a wedding at such short notice. We had the dress, the suit and the rings. But there were no long-haul flights available on a wedding package because they couldn't get all the paperwork organised and because of the hurricanes.

"We had planned a wedding ceremony barefoot on the beach at our resort in Cuba.

"The wedding package came with Cuban bridesmaids, witnesses, a wedding cake and a horse and carriage ride around the hotel."

Mr MacNaughton Cox, 30, who is originally from Rowde, said: "It was a horrible feeling. We had been planning our wedding for the past six months and we wanted it to be perfect."

When they reached the Costa Brava the couple, who have been together for two years, talked to their holiday rep about whether a wedding could be organised and they were given the telephone number of a private wedding co-ordinator in Barcelona.

The couple checked out of their resort and travelled to Barcelona. To their delight the wedding co-ordinator was able to organise a ceremony in the Spanish city two days before they were due to leave for home.

The ceremony was conducted in Spanish as the couple had wanted. A photographer was located to take the pictures and a Spanish guitarist was found to play music. The wedding co-ordinator conducted the ceremony and he enlisted three people to be witnesses.

Mr MacNaughton Cox said: "The wedding co-ordinator pulled out all the stops for us, despite one of the days being a Catalonian bank holiday. Nothing was guaranteed until 48 hours beforehand.

"It was a great day. We had the ceremony outdoors on the top of a hill overlooking a marina. Everyone was really happy for us."

Mrs MacNaughton Cox said: "Nothing can compare with barefoot on the beach but it was a fantastic ceremony. It was intimate and the weather was fantastic. It couldn't have been a happier day.

"Your wedding day is something really special and we had been planning it for so long.

"We are so pleased that we managed to have our wedding, even though it wasn't where we had planned it."

The couple, however, are planning to renew their vows in Cuba some time next year.

They are undecided whether they will actually go out on the anniversary as it will again be the hurricane season.

Mr MacNaughton Cox said: "We definitely want to go to Cuba to renew our vows.

"We would like to do it on our anniversary but the weather will be a factor.

"Hopefully the hurricanes this year were a freak event."