Simon Pritchard and Lucy Campbell were shocked when they found out their wedding venue had cancelled (Image: Submitted)
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A devastated couple have just days to find an alternative wedding venue after the luxury hotel they booked cancelled because it is now being used to house asylum seekers.
Simon Pritchard, 31, and Lucy Campbell, 28, were told over Zoom that they could no longer get married at the Hilton Garden Inn, a venue they booked more than a year ago.
They must now find another location this week or face having to call off the wedding.
Lucy told North Wales Live: “When we were told the venue was being cancelled, we were both completely gobsmacked.
“We woke the next morning hoping it was just a bad dream.
“We’re still a bit shocked. We’d been counting down the days for the wedding to happen.
“When they told us, we just couldn’t believe it, especially the reason they gave us.”
The couple, from Towyn in Conwy, Wales, have spent the past 12 months planning every detail of their December 10 wedding.
Already paid for are the dress, suits, and bridesmaids’ dresses. So too are the myriad wedding services, from make-up to hair and flowers.
They were expecting a final chat about their big day at the hotel based at Adventure Parc Snowdonia, in Conwy, but instead received a request for an urgent meeting.
As they were already tied up, a Zoom meeting was arranged with the Hilton’s wedding coordinator on Saturday evening, November 5.
The Hilton Garden Inn is being used to house asylum seekers (Image: Hilton Garden Inn)
Lucy said: “I don’t blame the staff, the people who had to tell me. It was out of their hands.
“But I’m not sure how to take the claim that the hotel had no choice in the matter, that the Home Office simply demanded it.”
Aberconwy MP Robin Millar has expressed concern over the hotel’s suitability for housing refugees, insisting it is “not a detention centre”.
He has contacted the Home Office and is liaising with Councillor Charlie McCoubry, leader of Conwy Council, to see what arrangements are needed.
It is understood that all weddings and events have been cancelled at the hotel and that there are now no rooms available until at least spring 2023.
The Home Office would not comment on “operational arrangements,” but said it only used hotels as a “short-term solution” until “appropriate accommodation” was found.
Simon and Lucy have been together for more than a decade. They have three children; the youngest, a girl, was born just three months ago.
Lucy said: “I don’t know why but I feel slightly embarrassed by what’s happened, even though it was completely beyond our control.
“I’m upset, of course, because we’d been looking forward to it so much: our two boys can’t wait for mum and dad to have the same surnames.
“At the moment I’m too stressed to get angry about what the hotel has done. If we find an alternative venue, and we’re happy with it, maybe that’s when I’ll start getting angry.”
On Monday, Lucy visited a venue suggested by the Hilton’s wedding coordinator. She wants to see more venues – but the clock is ticking.
Having spoken to Llandudno Registry Office, she discovered the couple must give 28 days’ notice of their intentions to switch venue.
She said: “We haven’t got much time to find somewhere suitable. I’ve had a look at one place, and while it was very nice, I don’t want to feel as if we have been left with just a single option. I would like a choice, if only to feel as if we haven’t been shoehorned into a venue.”
Another issue is that the couple could lose deposits they have paid to other service providers if the wedding is postponed.
Lucy said: “I imagine most would be very understanding and agree to a new date.
“But the wedding industry is still catching up from Covid and is very busy at the moment. Some might not have the availability.
“Finding a new date that everyone can agree on is likely to be very difficult.”
While Lucy would like more answers from the Hilton Garden Inn, at present she says she has not the time to dwell on it.
She added: “They said we’d be welcome to return there in the New Year to celebrate our wedding but I’m not sure what this means.
“In any case, why would we want to do that? After what the hotel has done to us?
“When we booked it, they sold us on the place as a stunning new venue, that it was so luxurious and that we’d be one of the first to get married there.
“For now, all I can do is focus on finding a new venue. I really don’t want to have to postpone the wedding.
“I have to remember that getting married isn’t all about the venue.
“But when you’ve set your heart on a place for more than a year, it’s hard to start thinking about somewhere else at such short notice.”
Express.co.uk has contacted the hotel for comment.
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