A COMPANY which promotes extra-marital affairs has been banned from exhibiting at two major wedding fairs in the North-East and North Yorkshire. UndercoverLovers.com, billed as a dating agency for married people, held discussions over taking stands at The UK Wedding Shows in Newcastle’s Metro Radio Arena and Harrogate International Centre, next year.
The company was aiming to offer advice sessions to young couples attending the shows, to present “a more realistic view of marriage than the rose-tinted version being sold elsewhere at the exhibition”.
The UndercoverLovers.com stall was to feature French psychologist Dr Maryse Vaillant, who believes wives should welcome their husbands’ extra-marital affairs as a sign of a healthy marriage.
On Monday, The UK Wedding Shows told UndercoverLovers.
com: “We would be happy for you to take a stand, but we have to be sensitive to all our exhibitors and a location would have to be discussed.”
Roger Dugarry, who runs the website, said that after he began publicising the fact they would have a stand at the shows, he received an email from The UK Wedding Shows stating they could not attend the event.
The email from The UK Wedding Shows states: “We regret to inform you that after today’s events we cannot accommodate you at any of our future shows.”
Bev Howard, director of The UK Wedding Shows, said UndercoverLovers.com had not confirmed or completed a booking for any of her firm’s fairs.
She said: “We are a professional organisation with high standards and take this sort of thing very seriously.
"I am very disappointed that the company in question appears to be using our name to gain themselves some publicity – and let’s face it that’s exactly what they are getting.”
Mr Dugarry, whose website has more than 550,000 members, said the firm had wanted to attend the events to provide positive guidance on some of the potential pitfalls of married life.
He said: “Statistically, more than 50 per cent of the soon-to-be married exhibition attendees will eventually separate.
“Couples who have stopped having a sexual relationship are told they must remain celebate for the rest of their lives if they want to remain married. We wanted to generate a debate on the subject by attending the fairs.”
After learning of the decision to ban Undercover Lovers. com from the wedding fairs, the Reverend Nicholas Henshall, of Christ Church, High Harrogate, said when he runs stalls for the church at wedding fairs, couples often spoke to him about experiences of multiple relationships.
He said the breakdown of fidelity and dishonesty had a profoundly negative impact on relationships.
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