IT was a story of paradise lost, then regained for Skipton solicitor John Moody and his family when they flew off to the Seychelles for the dream wedding of their son Nicholas to fiance Alexandra Hancock.

At the last minute the couple had swapped their partly planned July church wedding for an exotic beach wedding in the Seychelles.

They invited Nicholas' parents, John and Maureen, to go as witnesses the week before the big day - and swore them to secrecy!

Leaving their family and friends completely in the dark, Nicholas and Alexandra flew out on January 5 and were followed the next day by John and Maureen.

And with the wedding ceremony not booked until the 10th there should have been plenty of time to make the last minute preparations.

But, the expedition soon turned into a nightmare when the wedding couple's baggage was lost by the airline. It included the bride's dream dress, which she had bought months ago, and the bridegroom's suit.

At one point the family heard that their luggage was in the Charles de Gaulle Airport in Paris with 10,000 other lost bags!

Maureen, chairman of Craven Voluntary Action, said that each agonising day in the run up to the ceremony they kept their fingers crossed for news of the lost luggage.

And although they were frequently were told that the bags had been found they soon discovered that they had not.

She added that although Nick became quite irate, Alex remained amazingly calm.

Eventually they had to delay the wedding for five days while the search continued for their outfits, and at one point they even thought that it might be best to cut their losses and go home.

But, their despair turned to relief when the sequin-studded ivory dress finally turned up.

However Nick's suit failed to materialise. Instead he had to borrow his father's shirt, and both opted to buy and wear Bermuda shorts for the big occasion, as finding trousers in the Seychelles proved impossible!

The nightmare was forgotten and the couple, who have been together three years, were married in a romantic ceremony on the beach.

They were married at Georgina Bay, Praslin Island - coincidentally Alexandra's first name is actually Georgina!

"At first, it was a case of disaster in paradise," says John, of Moody and Co Solicitors. "But, in the end, it all worked out superbly well."

The holiday company which had arranged the trip was so embarrassed about the lost luggage that they paid for the whole party to stay on for the extra days!

John added that everyone involved could not have tried harder to help them especially the staff at the Lumeria Resort who went out of their way to make life easier for the family.

Staff upgraded Nick and Alex's room and ensured they had electric buggies to get wherever they needed to go.

"It was wonderful, and very entertaining," said Maureen.