AFTER nearly 20 years together and several previous attempts, a happy York couple have finally had their relationship blessed in front of their entire family.

Long-lost fathers, brothers in the military serving abroad, and a quadruple heart-bypass operation have all put off the big occasion in the past.

But now 41-year-old electrical engineer Malcolm Gadsby, and his wife, Karen, 43, an advertiser, have celebrated their relationship in front of nearly 150 friends and family at the Ramada Jarvis Hotel, in Shipton Road, York.

The pair first met 17 years ago in a York nightclub and have three children together, nine-year-old Brett, and twin sisters, Stephanie and Samantha, who are 16.

They tied the knot at York Register Office in 1998. But the wedding was only a small affair, as Karen's brothers were both serving abroad, in the RAF and the Army, at the time.

Karen said: "The first time round was a bit of a disaster and we ended up having a quick register office do. The caterer turned up on the day with pink sandwiches.

"Then we were going to organise a blessing ceremony four years ago, but my brothers were away again, in Iraq that time.

"And my dad was just about to have a quadruple heart bypass, so he wouldn't have been able to come either."

They called the ceremony off, but some good news last year spurred them back into action.

"Last year, I put adverts in all the local papers to try and track down Malcolm's father, who he hadn't seen since he was a little boy," Karen said.

"Malcolm's father, also called Malcolm, saw the adverts and got in touch.

"Now Malcolm's found out he has a half-sister and two step-brothers he'd never known about. We'd been waiting to do this for years and having the family reunited just spurred us on."

Speaking after the ceremony, Karen said: "I was nervous, but it's something we'd always wanted to do.

"All the kids read poems and Stephanie did a speech. It was nice to do it in front of all our friends and family."

Malcolm said: "I was absolutely delighted with the ceremony. It was nice for my dad to be there and see it too."

Malcolm Snr, who attended with his wife, Jean, said: "We would not have missed the night for the world."