WHEN newlyweds Joanne Stott and Stuart Hackett jet off on honeymoon next week, they will not just be gazing into one another's eyes.

The North-East couple have invited 21 other people to join them for a romantic two-week break in Tenerife.

The holiday party of family and friends ranges in age from three to 82, and a coach has been hired to take them all from Darlington to Manchester Airport.

Joanne, 33, said she saw nothing unusual in inviting so many people to join them.

"The thing is, we always do everything as a family. If you speak to anyone who knows us, they will tell you that we are always together.

"Quite honestly, we just didn't want to leave anybody behind."

The pair, of Newton Aycliffe, County Durham, will wed at Hartforth Hall, Gilling West, near Richmond, North Yorkshire, on Saturday, in front of about 40 family and friends.

A week later more than half of those guests, including the couple's three children from previous marriages, will fly with them to tourist resort Playa de las Americas for a vacation which has cost thousands of pounds.

"Everyone has paid for themselves," said Joanne, a care assistant. "It doesn't seem strange to us because we are such a close family.

"We all went on my sister's honeymoon as well. Probably about 14 of us went to Devon about ten years ago, and it was great.

"I went away for a week once without my mam and sister, and my phone bill was over £100 because I was chatting to them all the time."

Stuart, 38, a lorry driver, said: "We always go on holiday all together, so it makes no difference just because it's the wedding.

"I suppose if you are newlyweds who don't know what to expect, you are going to want to be alone. But we have been together for about six years and live together."

Apart from the happy couple, the holidaymakers are: Joanne's daughter, Gemma, 16; Stuart's daughter, Rebecca, 12, and son, Richard, 17; the bride's nana, Ivy Dodds, 82; the bride's parents, Marilyn and Ken Baker; the bride's sister, Vanessa Scott, husband, Nicholas and their children, Jason, 15, Aaron, 14, and Lochie, three; Ms Stott's aunt and uncle, Pat and Tommy Brownless, their son, Stephen, and his wife, Sian, and their children, Daniel, six, and Kelsey, three; the groom's brother, Anthony, and his daughter, Kathleen, 14; the couple's friend, Martin Shepherd, and a colleague of Stuart's, Rob Lambert.