A SOON-TO-BE groom from Bussage managed to blag his way to Rhodes in a competition which paid for his wedding.

Olly Atkins and his fiancee Pam Jones, of Eagle Close, entered a competition run by Severn Sound.

With just a £10 budget, grooms had to get as far away as possible in 24 hours.

After four weeks of interviews and voting on the station's website, Olly, 25, and Adam Williams from Cheltenham set off in their wedding suits from Bishopswood.

After getting to Ross-on-Wye, Olly managed to blag free coach and train tickets to Birmingham airport.

There he pestered and pleaded with people to raise enough money to get to Rhodes, Greece.

The other contestant never made it out of Birmingham airport which meant Olly had won.

He and Pam won a £15,000 wedding including the ceremony and reception venue, wedding dress and hair, the grooms outfit, the cake, photographs and flowers from Flowercube in Stroud.

Olly said: "It's a real dream come true because we had talked about marriage for a long time but it was always put on the back burner due to other expenses like rent and other boring things."

The couple are now looking forward to their wedding on March 28.