A newlywed who feared her dream wedding would not go ahead after her husband-to-be was reported missing with just days before the big day has praised the hard work of volunteers who worked tirelessly to find him.

Gemma Cholerton launched a heart-breaking plea on social media to help find her fiancé Steve when he went missing on Tuesday, September 10 – just four days before they were due to get married.

He had left his home in Raans Road with their dog Tiggy in what was described as a “completely out of character” disappearance.

After a frantic search by worried family, friends, members of the public and the Bucks Search and Rescue teams, the 52-year-old was found.

Days later, the couple were married at St Mary’s Church in Amersham.

Days after their dream wedding, Gemma spoke to the Bucks Free Press and expressed her admiration and gratefulness to the search teams and police who helped find Steve.

Gemma said: “Our wedding day was absolutely amazing; we were very lucky with the weather.

“We are actually supposed to be in Thailand at the moment and I’m currently at home sorting out the washing.

“We have put our honeymoon on hold until we find out more about what caused the event. Steve has amnesia and only remembers bits of the day, so we thought it’d be more important to establish what caused it at home rather than risk it happening again abroad.

“I had not fully appreciated the response and the hard work that goes in from the search and rescue teams.

“We live off the beaten track but within one hour there were ten police cars parked up at our house.

“They work so hard, they’re all volunteers but they searched throughout the night and throughout the following day until Steve was found. He actually stumbled upon them in the end.

“Anything we can raise would help them. At the wedding, we had a collection bucket for Bucks Search and Rescue. I am so grateful for all of the work that the volunteers do.”

Bucks Search and Rescue – which is a member unit of the UK’s Lowland Rescue Service – has been helping to find vulnerable missing people using specialist foot, bike, boat and dog-teams since 1987.

Gemma has launched a fundraising appeal to help raise money for Bucks Search and Rescue.

If you would like to donate to the cause, you can click here.

To find out more about what Bucks Search and Rescue does, go to www.bsar.org.uk.