A COUPLE who had to rescue their narrowboat when their boatbuilders went into administration have lost a "race against time" to get it ship-shape for their wedding tomorrow.

The Shuttle/Times & News gave front page coverage in February on how Natalie Vile, 37, and Michael McVey, 31, of Manor Road, Stourport, had planned to use their "love boat" as the centrepiece of their wedding on Good Friday.

The couple were planning to arrive on the boat at Avoncroft Museum of Historic Buildings at Bromsgrove, exchange vows and then honeymoon on the craft afterwards.

The duo have remained upbeat and positive and say their marriage is the most important thing to them.

Miss Vile, a personal adviser, said: "I don't suppose there is such a thing as a fairytale but we are getting married and that's the best happy ending you could ever have."

She added: "We will be travelling the conventional way by car but there will be 60 guests and we can't let anything ruin the celebration.

"We have been looking forward to this for a long time and we are both really excited.

"We had plans to incorporate the boat in every stage of the wedding but that's just the way it goes."

The couple came close to realising their dream but with only "finishing touches" remaining the River Severn proved too high to get to the Avoncroft museum on time.

Miss Vile explained it would have taken four days and involved negotiating more than 20 locks to get to Bromsgrove in time.

She said: "The night before we had to leave I kept waking in the middle of the night and saying, It's still raining, it's still raining'. We were really disappointed but we were prepared for it."

She said her experience with the former Severn Valley Boat Centre had "knocked" her confidence in people but the support she had received from the narrowboat community had restored that.

Miss Vile added they would still be spending their honeymoon on their boat but were yet to decide on their destination.

She said: "Look out for the boat with no name on it. Her name is Pyxis but we haven't had the time to get it painted yet."