A couple say plans for their £11,500 dream beach wedding have been thrown into chaos after the hotel they had booked at came under new management. It is now believed more than 40 brides-to-be across the country have been left in the same situation.
Frankie Wilson and Nigel Hopkinson have booked a beachside wedding at Holiday Village Atlantica on the Greek island of Kos in August with the travel giant TUI.
Yet they have now discovered via social media that the hotel is no longer operated by TUI. Instead, it is now being run independently as EGO Easy Living Resorts and couples are being offered the chance to book their weddings directly with them.
TUI are insisting all booked weddings will go ahead in their new holiday village which Frankie and Nigel have been told is 'five minutes down the road' and is currently being refurbished. However, 31-year-old Frankie has told Stoke-on-Trent Live they are being left in the dark regarding the new venue.
"It’s supposed to be bigger and better with six pools but we don’t know if they have a licence for the beach wedding, which is the only bit I’m bothered about," said Frankie, from the Berryhill area of Stoke, who found love with Nigel after the pair met in a cemetery.
“We’ve had no photos of the new place, no name. We’ve spent £11,500. To us, it’s a lot of money. Some people have spent £80,000 on their wedding. It’s supposed to be the best day of our lives but we don’t appear to matter.
“We would have preferred them to say we’re cancelling. It's the not knowing. All we want is answers. We’re not asking for roses and everything when we arrive, we just want to know whether we’re getting married. It’s the most important day of our lives. We’re humans, we understand things go wrong. All we want is some communication from them.”
TUI has apologised for the 'delay in communicating this change to our customers' but has promised couples will be contacted within the next week to discuss their options.
A spokesperson for the company said: "We know how important weddings are to our customers and we want to reassure all those who have booked weddings through TUI to the Holiday Village Atlantica that both the holiday and wedding will go ahead on the dates booked in our new Holiday Village.
"We would like to assure customers that they will have a fantastic Holiday Village experience with all the great Holiday Village facilities and entertainment we are famous for delivering.
"Our customer services teams will be in touch directly with those who have bookings to discuss all options, prioritising our wedding bookings who will be contacted within the next seven days.
"We’d like to apologise for the delay in communicating this change to our customers whilst we were working through the finer details and legalities with our partner Atlantica."
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