Planning a wedding is a notoriously difficult task, but when the groom is choosing everything for a reality television show, things do not always go to plan - as one couple found out.

Sam and Katy Ollerenshaw, of Grove Crescent, Walton, applied for a new BBC Three series, Don't Tell the Bride, where grooms are given four weeks and £14,000 to plan their dream wedding - while the bride is kept totally in the dark.

Katy Ollerenshaw

Sam, 26, a nurse at St Peter's Hospital, Chertsey, admitted he "didn't have a clue" and, when Katy, 31, a broadcast assistant, saw her dress a day before the wedding, she was mortified at what he had chosen.

Sam said: "Katy had mentioned a few things but nothing had really stuck in my head.

"I chose a dress I thought she would like but it was so overwhelming - there were so many to choose from."

Sharon Wilson, of Love Me Do Brides, New Zealand Avenue, Walton, had altered the original dress Sam had picked and then came to the rescue by lending Katy her dream dress, which was one of the few in stock in her size.

She said: "She just froze and spent five hours in the shop wailing. I didn't know what to do."

Katy said despite the drama, and being separated from Sam for four weeks while filming the programme, they had a "fantastic" Moulin Rouge themed wedding day - on Friday, July 13, in Warwickshire.

She said: "It was a very difficult process being sidelined from my own wedding.

"As soon as I saw the dress I knew I would have instantly dismissed it. It was a very difficult moment but, at the end of the day, we're really happily married and the programme was worth it."

Sam and Katy are having a party with their best man and maid-of-honour when the programme is aired on BBC Three, at 9pm Thursday.