Fire wrecks bride's day
A Shropshire bride who was forced to re-arrange her wedding reception was today hit by a second blow when vandals twice set fire to her marquee on the morning of the ceremony. Friends and family of Shane Wheeler and her husband-to-be, Andy Game, had rallied around to find a new reception after the original venue said it was closing only weeks before their big day.
But just hours before the couple were due to tie the knot firefighters were called to their pub, the Boar's Head in Belle Vue, after the marquee in the car park was set alight.
Miss Wheeler said: "My mum was here to have some mother and daughter time before the wedding, and we ended up going into the kitchen to check everything was wrapped up all right, and saw someone outside," she said.
"It was the fire service and that was the first we knew of it.
"It was 2am the first time, and I stayed up until 3.30am when my mum persuaded me to go to bed and get some sleep.
"At 4.45am they were back again and targeted the same area."
Miss Wheeler said she believed the fire had been started deliberately and that whoever had done it had also called the fire brigade.
She said that after being let down by the Radbrook Hall in Shrewsbury, this had felt like the final straw - but the obstacles would not get in the way of her big day.
"I was absolutely gutted. We have had one thing after another.
"We just hope that whoever did this feels good about themselves, because one day they will get their comeuppance.
"But they haven't broken me and Andy."
The couple were due to marry at 2pm today in Holy Trinity Church, Belle Vue.
Miss Wheeler said that she had desperately wanted to see her fiance after the fire this morning, but to follow tradition they would stay apart until the wedding.
A spokesman for Shropshire Fire and Rescue Service said two fire engines and the incident commander had attended the blaze, and the cause of the fire was unclear.
By Alys Cummings
