A BRIDE'S wedding day disaster story had a real sting in the tail - when she was attacked by a poisonous jellyfish on honeymoon.

Newlyweds Mark and Tracy-Ann Steel, from Tantobie, near Stanley, County Durham, thought they had weathered the worst of the storm when a succession of mishaps threatened to turn their happy day into a fiasco.

And although the ceremony was faultless and the happy couple were overjoyed with their wedding, 23-year-old Tracy-Ann recalled yesterday the catalogue of disasters which threatened to cause chaos.

She said: "First my wedding dress was far too small so it had to be altered only days before the wedding, then the music and hymn sheets went missing in the church and the Rolls Royces couldn't make it.

"My veil then went missing, then some of the page boy's suits arrived twice the size we ordered - they looked like Billy Bunter.

"Against the odds the ceremony was wonderful.

"But a teenage DJ brought in at the last minute brought his own CD collection - it was odd watching elderly relatives trying to dance to hip hop".

Tracey-Ann added: "The seven-day honeymoon in Minorca was idyllic, until I went in the sea one day and a jellyfish with long tentacles floated by and stung me."

Although she was in agony and her arm became paralysed, Tracy-Ann received immediate treatment and has been told her wound will heal in three months.

l To make up for their run of bad luck, The Northern Echo has now arranged to whisk the couple away for a romantic Valentine weekend in Paris next year.

But Tracy-Ann reckons the wedding day was still a resounding success.

She said: "I don't want anyone to get the impression the wedding wasn't wonderful.