A DREAM day turned into a nightmare when a couple had to spend their wedding night trapped in a car stuck in a blizzard on a motorway.

Mike and Sarah Roots got their dream, snowy wedding in Gretna Green, but got more than they bargained for with the honeymoon, spending more than 16 hours on the M74 in temperatures reaching minus 16 degrees celsius.

After leaving their wedding reception at 1.30pm on Sunday, the wedding party headed for a luxurious break in a secluded log cabin, by Loch Ness, but did not arrive until more than 24 hours later.

The now less than happy couple ended up stranded outside Glasgow, along with lorry driver Mr Roots’ children, Kyle Parrish, 12, and Megan Parrish, 11, and his wife’s stepfather and mother, David and Theresa Saunders.

Also with them were two dogs, Mrs Roots’s Lhasa Apso, Marley, and Mrs Saunders’s Treacle.

Mrs Roots, 30, of Panfield Lane, Braintree, said: “It was awful. It was absolutely horrendous.

“It was really the least romantic way to spend my wedding night.”

The couple, who never argue, say they had four arguments and were not talking to each other for some of the time. Mrs Roots, a nanny, said: “It was dark, it was cold. We didn’t have so much as a cup of water. It was the worst time of my life.”

Mr and Mrs Saunders, who were braving the weather last night to return home, were stuck in a Peugeot convertible.

Mr Saunders, who runs the Past and Present shop in Coggeshall Road, Braintree, said it was cramped in the car and all he could see on the road was snow, ice and cars.

He said: “Luckily there were no fatalities. There were people who were just abandoning their cars if they knew they weren’t near a junction.”

Bad luck had already hampered the wedding even before the snow, as Mrs Roots’ grandmother, Phyllis Preston, 76, was taken to hospital.

She was forced to stay in Braintree, along with Mrs Roots’s aunt and cousin, who was due to be maid of honour.

However, after arriving, the bride and groom were happy and the honeymoon lodge owners offered them an extra night’s stay.

Mrs Roots said: “Although it was a wedding night from hell, now we are in our hot tub overlooking the Loch, sipping on champagne. Overall the whole experience was worth it as we are happy and very much in love.”