Reception venue have gone bust!

elliebobs

Am slowly taking deep soothing breaths here.

Arrived home from work to find a letter to state that our reception venue has ceased treading and the doors are locked! Funnily enough, when they took our deposit last month they didn't mention that they were in financial do do but there you go.

Not sure if I can name and shame so I won't but am looking for a venue suitable for a small wedding party (16 people). We deliberately chose this venue as we don't want a disco etc; just a nice meal with our nearest and dearest and then a sit down in the lounge on the big sofas with a couple of drinks to while away the evening.

It's not until January 2013 so full panic mode hasn't yet been engaged.

Has this happened to anyone else and did you have any luck in getting your deposit back??? We have no insurance:o But I did pay by credit card (approx £160)

Or, does anyone know the Gretna area; we're getting married at Comlongon Castle so need somewhere fairly local to that.

I will be eternally grateful if anyone can offer any help or advice.xx

fawny

O no sorry to hear this

Hopefully your credit card company will be able to help you.

White_Sapphire

I'm so sorry to hear that, especially as the venue was so well suited to what you needed.

I don't know the area at all, but I hope someone local to you can help.

As for the deposit, if the administrators can't help, then I would have thought that your credit card company would help you out, as the cost was over £100. I may be wrong, but that's my understanding.

Like you say, you do still have plenty of time to find somewhere; try recruiting local family and friends to ask around and keep their eyes peeled for anything suitable.

Actually, I seem to remember from my searches that there is a website called something like partyvenues.com, which is a search engine for large houses and the like which you might be able to hire out.

Let us know how it goes.

x

susannthe3cs

I'm a Gretna bride and they have already been named all over Facebook on the Gretna page x
I'm getting married at smiths but l have had a few issues as of late prices increasing from quote no paper work through etc x was ur wedding in the hotel too or elsewhere as have heard good things about the mill x I hope u get ur money back Hun x

susannthe3cs

Just seen were ur getting married x the mill still do meals or there's loads of other hotels around there x

elliebobs

We're getting married at Comlongon but the reception was at Whitecroft Mansions (the info is out there now on web so can't see any harm in naming them here). Whitecroft, it seems, just handed in the keys at one of the wedding bureaus and legged it mid October time.
The deposit was actually a bit more than I initially thought (£270) but I'll be getting onto the credit card company tomorrow; not sure who the administrators are but again, may be able to find that out tomorrow.
I think tomorrow could be a day to stock up on nurofen.
We still def want to get married at Comlongon but need to book somewhere for our guests who are all travelling 100 plus miles.
Oh well, at least no one died and I have plenty of time.
I was on tripadvisor earlier and some poor people have turned up at the hotel to find it all locked up so it could have been so much worse for us.
Thanks to everyone who replied; will keep you updated

becca0417

Oh Ellie, really hope you get somewhere with it. Fingers crossed x

Hadley1

Hi

So sorry to hear that... Better you find somewhere else wonderful.:)

lovecake

Section 75 refund! Your credit card company must protect anything over £100 so get in touch with them. There is a guide on this site about section 75 here http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/shopping/section75-protect-your-purchases

Hope that helps!

Good luck! Xx

wanchai_2

You will defo get your deposit back, good luck finding a new venue xxxxx

elliebobs

Hi again;quick update.

Got onto Credit Card company and they are sending me the necessary forms so hopefully I should get that deposit back.

Problem no. 2 is that, after scouring the web, there are no other venues suitable or comparable. We booked through one of the wedding bureau's up in Gretna and also paid them a deposit (£700) that they are, at present, refusing to refund.

We're going up there next weekend to check out a couple of other venues just in case they are better than what they seem online. If the worst comes to the worst then I can see that we will have a battle to get the £700 refunded.