A couple have been left heartbroken after their wedding booking was cancelled just days before it was due to take place. Melanie Lawson, 31, and Danny Moss, 32, from Calverton had their dream day booked at Woodborough Hall, Woodborough on June 4, but received an email from the venue on the evening of May 31 stating it had been cancelled.
Nottinghamshire Live has seen correspondence which states this was due to the venue going into receivership, which its owners said was a result of the ongoing affects of Covid and a difficult trading environment. The engaged pair have now shared how they were "let down" by the hall's owners, who they say "ruined" the wedding they had been planning for more than a year.
Mr Moss, who works in construction, said: "I thought she was just pulling my leg at first, and then when I realised I was incredibly heartbroken and shocked about the whole thing. It's something sent a lot of your life looking forward to, we had been organising this for over a year and everything was in place, with all the deposits paid for.
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"I was working away and had to drive as quickly as I could from London, so that we could try get to the registrar office and register for another venue, but it just wasn't possible. There were 70 odd guests in the day time and 170 or something in the evening, so it was going to be a big day.
"There was not a lot of care from them at all - the first I knew about it was when I got a call from my missus who was crying, and then she said our wedding had been cancelled over email and that the hall had been sold.
"We were just about to sort out the last bits and get the rings ready, then we got than email and everything was just ended. It was gone."
Ms Lawson and Mr Moss were refunded by the venue a few days after the cancellation.
Ms Lawson, who works at Capital One, said her and Mr Moss' wedding had been '"ruined" by the ordeal. "I've got to pick up my dress and now I'm not getting married. We had people flying over from Spain and Ireland to a huge wedding, and was given one working day to figure it all out - and no one could do it so we've had to postpone it all," she said.
"I've been running round and not sleeping because I was worrying about trying to sort it. We feel really led on, we had everything ready, the florist cost a £1,000 alone and we're not getting all that stuff back.
"I had my dress and hair, make up, florists, decoration company, photographer all paid for which we have lost money on. We had everything sorted, but now that dream day is ruined.
"I think the main point is how heart breaking it was after more than a year of planning that he [the owner] cancelled on us four days before. We are a young family and they've done this to us.
"It's not really about the money it's more about how we have been let down. We're hoping to rearrange for later in the year, but we are struggling now to find venues with availability and ones that aren't charging too much."
The former operators of Woodborough Hall were contacted for comment. A spokesperson for the Bestwood Lodge Hotel in Arnold confirmed they had taken some wedding bookings from people who had their events cancelled at Woodborough Hall.
