Two lovestruck Elvis impersonators say they’ve been left all shook up after being told they cannot hold their engagement party in a church as the king of rock‘n’roll’s music “isn’t in keeping with God”.

Janice White, of Knebworth, and Carl Chapman, from Arlesey, originally met 25 years ago while they were both performing as Elvis impersonators but lost contact shortly afterwards.

The pair were not reunited until February 2013 when Carl was in hospital following heart surgery, and subsequently fell in love.

Karl, a security guard, thought that going to church would help him deal with his depression following his near-death experience in hospital and started attending Letchworth Garden City Church in Icknield Way.

The 50-year-old was planning to propose to Janice at an engagement party this Sunday – the weekend marking the 27th anniversary of the singer’s death – but has now received a Facebook message from a church representative saying the event has been cancelled as Elvis’s music “isn’t in keeping with the message of God”.

Janice, 50, whose stage name is Janny James Elvis, said: “We’ve been attending the church for over a year and everything seemed really laid back at first. After a few months they kept pestering us to sign up and hand over 10% of our salaries and get baptised but we refused.

“Then about 10 days ago Carl received an email telling him that they’ve cancelled our engagement party. It’s absolutely ridiculous, Elvis sang gospel music which is originally from the church. We’ve been planning this party for months and have family coming down from miles away to attend. The whole thing has left us devastated.”

Church elder Michael Sijuwade told the Comet that no agreement about the engagement party had been made with the couple.