In the course of celebrating their happy union, unlucky Michael and Tina Barrow have needed all three emergency services.

As Tina was excitedly pulling on her dream dress on the morning of October 5, 1963, a fire broke out in the church where they were due to wed.

The devastated 19-year-old, then Tina Comber, watched in disbelief from her home in Fisher Street, Maidstone as flames gutted St Paul’s Church.

“It was opposite my parents’ house,” Mrs Barrow, now 69, said. “It was completely destroyed.

“The policeman sent most of our guests home, including the person with the rings, but we managed to get another vicar and were married at St Luke’s at 5pm. It was certainly a day to remember.”

Fifty years on, their daughter Tracey Seaman arranged a surprise party for her parents’ Golden Wedding, but plans were cancelled after Mr Barrow suffered serious injuries in a gardening accident the day before.

The 72-year-old father of two was left needing 80 stitches after he lost control of a hedge cutter and slashed his face and arm, needing treatment at Pembury Hospital in Tunbridge Wells.

Determined not to miss out, Mrs Seaman reorganised the do for last Saturday but, as Mr and Mrs Barrow smiled for party photos, their home in Allington was being ransacked and precious jewellery stolen.

The crime, between 2.30pm and 7.30pm, left the great-grandparents bereft.

Mrs Barrow’s engagement ring, eternity band and her mother-in-law’s wedding ring were all stolen.

She said: “We were stunned when we got home.

“We’re really upset by it all, especially as the rings were so sentimental.

“I don’t think people who do this have a conscience but we’re hoping someone might recognise the jewellery if they try to sell it and call the police. ”

Despite her heartbreak Mrs Barrow still managed a joke. “I told Michael I should never have married him,” she said.