FORMER Colchester United goalkeeper Carl Pentney had to put his wedding plans on hold when he left the club.
Pentney, 23, left in January after failing to make a first team apperance during two-and-a-half years with the U’s.
But his luck has changed.
Pentney and fiancee Kerry Aldridge have won a £2,500 wedding and honeymoon, thanks to the Gazette and Holiday Inn.
The prize includes a three-course breakfast and meal for up to 80 guests and more than £1,000 towards a honeymoon.
Carl, who is playing for Bishops Stortford in the Conference North - three leagues below the U’s, said: “I didn’t know we had entered and got a call at training telling me to come home.
“I thought something disastrous had happened and instead it was brilliant news and we are really happy.”
The childhood sweethearts met eight years ago in Brightlingsea and have two children, Ollie, three, and Lacey, who is five months old.
Kerry was heavily pregnant when Carl proposed last year.
With the new baby and the uncertainty over Carl’s career, the couple had no time to plan a wedding so the prize comes as a welcome relief.
Kerry, 27, said: “It is fantastic to have won. I didn’t tell him I had entered and did not believe it when we got the call.
“When I told my mum she was screaming down the phone and everyone is really happy.”
The competition marks the launch of the Holiday Inn’s “wed and breakfast” package.
Alex Berriman, wedding and events co-ordinator for Holiday Inn in Abbots Lane, Eigh Ash Green, said: “The idea came from our general manager and I believe we are the only one in the country doing this.
“It is very exciting when you start out planning a wedding and it is nice to meet the couple and be able to help.”
Kerry and Carl can have the marriage ceremony at the Holiday Inn or elswhere and reconvene at the hotel for the reception.
They also get “points” for a honeymoon - enough for a week’s stay at any Holiday Inn or Crowne Plaza around the world including New York and Thailand.
Kerry said: “We haven’t decided where we are going yet, but it will be somewhere hot.”
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