A bride-to-be was left in hysterics and "crying her eyes out" when her she was told her wedding venue would be closing less than two weeks before her big day. A year-and-a-half ago, Haley Peel, 36, booked Petit Delight in Cleethorpes, Lincolnshire for her wedding reception on Saturday, June 17.
But just 11 days before the big day, she was told via a phone call that she would need to find another venue for her 130 guests, as reported by Grimsby Live. She did get a full refund from them within an hour of the phone call, but was left in a panic as her original plans were ruined.
The Seaview Street restaurant announced on social media on Tuesday, June 6 that it would be closing "with immediate effect", citing the "current economic climate" and "circumstances beyond our control".
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In the Facebook post - which also announced the closure of sister restaurant Corks Twenty Eight - they wrote: "Due to circumstances beyond our control we are having to cease trading. This is something we have been battling for a long time and as we are sure you are all aware, we are living in a very challenging world.
"Unfortunately, with the current economic climate, we can no longer make this work. We are so sorry this has happened and please understand that this is not something we’ve taken lightly.
"We’ve tried and tried to make our business a success and we hope to be back one day when the world is a better place to operate in." Haley, who has been engaged to her fiancé Darren Lowe, 50, for two years, said: "The Tuesday before my wedding I got a phone call from Petit Delight just as I was about to go into work.
"The manager said, 'Haley, I think you need to sit down', and told me that Petit Delight was closing with immediate effect and that they couldn't go ahead with my wedding reception.
"I was in absolute hysterics, I was crying my eyes out just thinking, 'Oh my gosh, what am I going to do?" It was a nightmare, for that to happen a week and a couple of days before your wedding. I was really struggling to get my words out, and at the time I didn't ask why."
Haley said she was lucky to have the money refunded to her bank account within the hour, but was left with just a matter of days to find an alternative wedding venue.
"We were very fortunate to get our money back, he sent it within the hour," she said.
"One of my friends said, 'Haley, shut up, going to pieces right now isn't going to solve anything', and she drove round and rang round everywhere and luckily Millfields came to my rescue. They've been absolutely incredible, and all my friends have put in to get us a car."
Because Haley and Darren were getting married at Cleethorpes Town Hall, they wouldn't have needed a car, with Petit Delight being less than a minute's walk away.
The bride-to-be said: "I wanted to do it all in Cleethorpes. I booked Petit Delight because it was straight across from the registry office, all my family are from Yorkshire and I tried to tailor it to everyone and do it all close together.
"We couldn't get anywhere else in Cleethorpes because it was Armed Forces Day. It was really really upsetting because we had an image in our head of how we wanted it to look and go.
"We had to move things around and we did have a happy ending in the end, but it was horrendous at the time. We've had to forfeit quite a lot of things and my family have lost a lot of money on accommodation, because for ease we moved them to stay at Millfields, so we had to spend a lot more money."
Haley said the entire situation is "horrendous" but feels they have been "one of the really lucky ones".
"It's a bit of a tragic story but we've been one of the really lucky ones," she said.
"The only thing that affected us was about an hour of me being frantic. I just want to give Millfields a shoutout because they pulled my wedding together the same way. They've done it for the same price and they've gone above and beyond." Petit Delight did not respond to Grimsby Live's requests for comment.
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