We lost our ‘dream’ wedding venue and it’s quite possibly the greatest thing to come out of 2020.

Don’t get me wrong – there were plenty of tears in the lead up to, during, and after the event.
All of which Ben handled spectacularly.
Especially considering we had just reopened the pub after the first lockdown and had been hit hard by the government’s glorious eat out to help out campaign.  Anyways —

They say everything happens for a reason and this is living, breathing, proof that it is true.

After weeks of hearing crickets (other than a secondary instalment for venue hire deposit request – the audacity) we were able to finally meet in person to discuss our wedding for July 2021. Naturally, we just wanted clarity on how the venue was handling the pandemic and how we could plan going forward…

Part of me wants to rehash the whole ordeal and do a giant name & shame but the other half just can’t be bothered.
To make a long story short, our venue hired a new general manager during lockdown and they changed their entire approach to weddings in the process. What we had agreed to pay for, almost a year prior, to host our wedding at their venue – inclusive of venue hire, catering, drinks service, etc- had completely changed. BIG changes with no change to the cost in the slightest which didn’t sit well with us.

Regardless of the deals we could have fought to reflect the new offer, it was the way the situation, and now venue, was being managed that we were never going to be satisfied in the lead up to or on the day itself. Hello – we both have years of hospitality and customer service experience and the experience we had over email and in our meeting was red flag enough to not go through with our big day.

Quite a few tears, refunds, and 1 negative TripAdvisor later we found ourselves back at square one.

The question we then had was – where do we get married now?
How do we plan a wedding that we’re just as excited about without thinking about ‘what could have been’?

Our plans are all still in the works but I think I speak for the both of us when I say we’re so glad that we are no longer getting married in our original wedding venue.