A couple's wedding was cancelled just 24 hours before they were due to tie the knot after venue staff were "pinged" by the NHS Covid app.
Sarah, 35, and Darren Alexander, 37, were due to get married at Kings Norton Golf Club in Birmingham on July 17 before being told the venue had to close immediately.
The bride, a customer service adviser, said they had been waiting nearly three years, describing the 'pingdemic' as "out of control".
"Getting that call and finding out the staff had all been pinged and that the wedding wouldn't go ahead was absolutely soul-destroying," she said.
Hydraulics engineer Darren had proposed on Christmas Day 2018 and the big day was initially pencilled in for June 2020.
The pandemic meant, like millions of others, they were forced to reschedule and settled on February this year.
But with lockdown still in place they ended up having to pull the plug twice more before settling on July 17.
Sarah said her dress, as well as those to be worn by the bridesmaids, and the guestbook and decorations were all at the venue when she got the heartbreaking call.
"I was getting ready to meet my bridesmaids, parents and nan for lunch before heading to the hotel later that night when my phone rung," she explained.
"The venue said they were really sorry but they'd had to close.
"I was so confused and thought it was some kind of a joke."
Sarah said she was told a staff member had tested positive the week before and all the venue's staff had been alerted by the app to isolate.
"I was horrified and shocked," she said. "I asked why they couldn't have done a deep clean and just contacted a job agency to get new staff."
She was told this wasn't possible.
"I had never felt that low and it was not what either of us needed after the year we'd had," continued Sarah.
The couple had invited 190 people to the reception and the cake was arriving in the morning.
"It was just devastating."
When all hope seemed lost, miraculously, Manor Hill House in Upton Warren agreed to take on the wedding at short notice and Sarah and Darren got married the following day.
After calling in desperation, the operators said they did have a slot and the couple were able to visit that afternoon.
Sarah said they both "fell in love" with the manor house, which is surrounded by cornfields.
In just three hours the venue managed to help the couple arrange a brand new wedding.
They called the registrar and set up the new table plans.
Meanwhile, Sarah's bridesmaids contacted all the guests with the new address.
The next day, the couple said their vows in front of their family and friends.
Sarah said she understands that someone with Covid or someone who has been in contact with a case must isolate.
"But most people are being pinged when they haven't even been near someone with it or they weren't in the vicinity at the same time," she said.
"They should just ask them to do tests and prove they're negative so they can go back to work."
"It's unnecessary and crazy," she added.
Sarah said she was grateful her big day could be saved, with the couple also lucky to be able to get their deposit back from the golf club.
Steve Dougan, the club manager at Kings Norton Golf Club, confirmed nearly every other member of staff was pinged after the positive result.
"We were scrambling trying to find new temporary staff through job agencies but there was no staff on anyone's books," he said.
"It was very unfortunate but we had to cancel the wedding with such short notice.
"We had no choice but to follow the rules and guidelines. We didn't want to be the reason someone caught Covid.
"We had responsibilities as business owners."
He went on to say the pingdemic is "affecting businesses everywhere" and that the problem is the app "doesn't give anyone information so nobody knows where it's from".
