A wedding caterer told clients they were better off with McDonalds and KFC after they asked to pay in instalments.

Melissa Samuels, 27, and her fiancé Steven Gould, 25, booked Brighton-based Banquets, Buffets and Balls for their dream wedding in May next year.

But after inquiring if they had to pay the £700 fee in one go, the couple received a note on company-headed paper telling them to host their wedding breakfast in a fast-food restaurant.

The crumpled handwritten note, which was attached to the menu, said: “Miss Samuels, we pride ourselves in our standards and only offer the best service to our clients. I would suggest perhaps Kentucky or McDonalds might be more to your requirements. Our services are withdrawn."

The couple, of Court Farm, Newhaven, said they were reduced to tears by the sniping letter.

Ms Samuels said: “I’m absolutely devastated by what he said. I don’t mind that he didn’t want to do the wedding but I do mind that he talked down to us just because we’re not as rich as he is.”

Mr Gould, a fisherman, said: “We were more than happy to pay the full amount we only asked about instalments to check. It was just a question.

“The letter was very upsetting it made Melissa cry, at the end of the day we were his clients and it was an unacceptable thing to say.”

When The Argus visited the flat named as the business address of Banquets, Buffets and Balls, the man who answered the door refused to comment.

But minutes later a man who said he owned the company phoned our reporter and said he did not care if he upset the couple and said the brash note was his “prerogative”.

The man, who would not give his name, said the couple had not paid the 10% deposit on time and had asked to pay in instalments by direct debit which is not his company’s policy.

He said: “I got the feeling it wasn’t going to be right so I wrote the letter, that’s my prerogative.

“It’s not abusive I was just telling them - they said they were going to do this thing and they haven’t. I don’t care if she’s upset by it.

“They were asking to pay by direct debit, I’m not a bank, I don’t have that facility. I won’t be mucked about.”

The man said he is “well respected” in the catering industry and has been doing weddings for 25 years although he admitted Banquets, Buffets and Balls is not a registered company.