Nicola Hamill, 29, and husband Alex, 32, fell ill while on their honeymoon in Las Vegas following the wedding at Letchworth Hall Hotel, Hertfordshire.

When they returned, they heard that 49 of their guests had suffered from the same problems after eating the chicken liver pate which had not been cooked to the right temperature.

Newlyweds Alex and Nicola Hamill were confined to their honeymoon bedroom after they both fell sick with food poisoning along with 49 of their guests

Nicola said she was suspicious about the pate when it was first served and asked twice if it was safe to consume, and was assured it was fine.

She said: 'We feel it spoilt the memory of the day. We had saved for years for our special day. It was ruined. What is worse is that I knew something was wrong with the pate - it looked completely different from our tasting session.

'We asked the staff twice to check it was fit for consumption and they assured us it was. I would not wish it on my worst enemy.

She said they fell in love with the hotel the first time they saw it. 'When we walked in the hotel, we knew it was the one,' she said. 'They really bigged up the kitchen and food.'

They paid £5,550 on a wedding breakfast for 118 guests, welcome drinks, meal drinks and a toast drink but got the venue for free as part of a special offer.

Because they were unhappy about the pate they complained the next day and the hotel gave them £400 towards their bar tab.

They then left for their £2,200 honeymoon in Las Vegas on September 5, but only managed one romantic meal before they both fell ill with stomach cramps and diarrhoea.

Mrs Hamill said: 'People ask us what we did in Las Vegas and we have to say nothing. We were left just looking out of the window thinking we wish we were sat by the pool.

'It is not how you expect to spend your first week as husband and wife. I felt so ill. We didn't understand what was wrong with us, at one point I thought I was going to die.

'I thought Alex just had a headache. But taking him on the helicopter trip was the worst thing for him - I thought he was going to keel over on me.

'All we could eat was dry toast and spent 150 dollars on the mini bar just on water and vitamin drinks. We should have been splashing out on champagne. We only went out for one meal.'

When they returned from their honeymoon, the couple were devastated to hear that nearly half of their wedding guests had suffered from the same food poisoning

After returning home the couple were still weak and unwell but had to struggle at work because Nicola was still in her probation period and Alex is self-employed.

The case was prosecuted by North Hertfordshire District Council and the hotel pleaded guilty to two charges of poor food hygiene practice at Hertford Magistrates' Court on May 18.

Magistrates heard that 49 of the 118 guests at the hotel had eaten the chicken liver pate starter and reported illness after the meal, with doctors confirming 22 cases of an infection called Campylobacter - including the bride and groom.

The hotel was forced to pay £6,300 for the first offence and £2,000 for the second and made to pay the full court costs of £3,870 to NHDC, which received the initial complaint five days after the wedding on September 8.

Environmental health officers established that the chef had cooked the chicken livers to 60°C, in breach of hotel policy and Food Standards Agency guidance which recommends a temperature of 75°C to prevent food poisoning.