It’s been one hitch after another for a wedding trade expo.
Organised by Your Wedding Live, it was first due to take place at the Coventry Building Society Arena in October 2020 but was postponed due to Covid, as was the re-scheduled date in February 2021.
The third attempt, scheduled for October 2021 was also postponed, the organisers blaming the post-lockdown malais in the wedding trade.
Then it was moved to Telford and date number four, scheduled for last weekend, only to be postponed once more.
Among the disgruntled exhibitors is Sammy Dingley of Romantic Dreams bridal shop in Birmingham, who has paid all but the final instalment on her exhibitor’s fee.
“When the event was moved to Telford I insisted on a refund,” she said.
“I'm still waiting for the £1,500 I am owed. They said the contract states they can move the venue but as a gesture of goodwill they would refund but it would take up to 60 days. I'm still waiting, as are many others.
“The 0800 number just rings out and the mobile numbers I have for the director Max Laurance-Gutteridge and the woman that sold me the stand are now going straight to voicemail, and no one is responding to emails anymore.”
Your Wedding Live is a trading name of The Wedding Media Group Limited.
Its director Max Laurence-Gutteridge insisted that the terms and conditions allow them to postpone or relocate events if adequate notice is given.
“People like Sammy Dingley decided to withdraw with the result they were liable for the full cost of their stand, regardless of whether the event moves to another date down the line,” he said.
“It’s the same industry-wide. Organisers have to put this clause in because venues put the same clause on us.
“There’s a legally binding contract in place that states she is liable for the full cost of her stand and she still owes us money, not the other way round. In no way are we scamming people out of money, we are just following the terms and conditions.”
Which doesn’t square with emails she’s received offering a refund, such as one dated December 16 beginning: “Apologies again that we have missed our deadline to refund you and were not able to update you earlier.”
Mr Laurence-Gutteridge responded: “It sounds like she’s been promised something that she should not have been,” but agreed to honour any refund commitment.
His company also promoted a wedding show at the Saatchi Gallery in London which resulted in visitors arriving earlier this month to find nothing had been organised.
The Gallery told me: “Saatchi Gallery never entered into any contract with any party for a wedding event to take place at the Gallery this month.
“The presentation of the Gallery as a venue and the selling of tickets for 'Wedding Live' was done without our prior knowledge or approval.
“Regrettably, we only became aware of this when some ticket-holders arrived at the Gallery. We immediately contacted the organisers for an explanation and a request to remove all listings.
“Saatchi Gallery are very disappointed with the actions of the organiser in permitting this to happen and hope that any ticket purchasers for this non-existent event have received their money back in full from the organisers.”
Mr Laurence-Gutteridge initially responded: “No email has gone out from us confirming that the Saatchi Gallery show is taking place. I believe one went out to exhibitors saying we were planning events that would have included Saatchi. We never confirmed that event or advertised or promoted it.”
I forwarded to him emails from his company naming the venue, including one sent from his own email account saying: “Your Wedding Live will take place at the Saatchi Gallery, London on 5-6 February”.
He then blamed the debacle on a member of staff who has since left, saying: “Our previous marketing manager may have got ahead of herself. We send mass emails from my email address. That person has now left the business.”
One disappointed visitor was Jennifer McKiernan, who is due to marry later this summer and went to the gallery with her mother and sister, who had travelled to London from Birmingham and Wales.
"It was a big effort for them to comedown to London, my mum is quite badly disabled and to drag her to London for nothing was horrible," she said.
"Only the day before the event I was sent an email reminder with the tickets."
Mr Laurence-Gutteridge said everyone who had bought tickets had been refunded.
PS The Your Wedding Live event at the Manchester Central scheduled for March 19-20 has been postponed.
investigate@mirror.co.uk
