Red-faced register office officials in Germany have apologised after falsely telling a groom he could not wed his bride-to-be because he was already married.

The stunned groom, named only as Marko K., 38, and his 31-year-old bride Winnie V., had been trying to book a register office to tie the knot in neighbouring Poland.

To book a wedding, they both needed to provide Polish officials with details from their public records.

But when the documents from Horyerswerda, in the state of Saxony, arrived, stunned Marko’s records showed he had already married in 2014 and even had a daughter.

Fiancee Winnie took to social media to tell how she turned detective to track down whether Marko was innocent or a would-be bigamist.

She said: “It was an absolute shock at that moment. I immediately started crying.

“You first think: Oh my God, my whole life is about to be turned upside down.”

After tracking down the other woman, she confirmed she had never even met Marko, let alone married him.

It later emerged that a bungling registrar had signed off a marriage on the wrong page, falsely linking Marko’s details to the bride.

Chief registrar Judith Maschlanka said: “In this case, we had the birth record of this wrong child and the marriage record of the wrong marriage.

“We were then able to send the documents to the German register and fortunately, we didn’t have to go to court.”

Now the couple have received the right documents and plan to go ahead with their wedding next month (May).

Relieved Winnie said: “We see it with humour now. We will probably tell the story to our grandchildren.

“I’m glad it turned out so well and that we trust each other.”