Would-be brides and grooms fear their big days will be cancelled losing them thousands after claiming their wedding venue "ghosted" them.
Happy couples have told The Mirror they've been left fearing their long-awaited big days won't go ahead at venues that are part of luxury hotel chain bigdaywedding.co.uk.
Anxious customers claim they've bombarded the company with emails, calls and texts trying to confirm their weddings are still on, only to be stone walled.
Bigdaywedding.co.uk - the public facing part of the hotel chain - has told The Mirror all weddings will go ahead as planned from June, but many nearly-weds are sceptical.
Staff members were let go after the first lockdown, one former worker reported on Glassdoor, raising questions about how the operation will start up again by next month.
Fed up with her calls being ignored, one bride-to-be claimed she visited one of the hotels and discovered an upstairs ceiling had collapsed when she looked into the seemingly empty building.
Has lockdown spoilt your wedding plans? Email webnews@mirror.co.uk
Irate couples have now hired lawyers and started looking into the business.
The warning signs have left people such as Carrie Hornby convinced she'll be out of pocket and left waiting even longer for her wedding.
The 48-year-old, who says she has paid £1,500 so far and planned to get married at Durker Roods hotel in Huddersfield, had to move her wedding to July 18 due to the lockdown.
She claims she contacted the company in April to ask a question, only to be blocked first on her personal WhatsApp and then her work number the following day.
Carrie says then spent days writing multiple letters, making phone calls and sending emails trying to speak to an employee, before deciding to cut her losses and cancel the wedding.
When she finally got through to someone she claims she was told the money she had paid was non-refundable.
"The impact has been quite devastating," Carrie told The Mirror of the uncertainty surrounding her wedding.
"We didn't sleep for days. I was so upset. I really have not handled this very well.
"We're not rich people. We need that money. We can't afford to lose £1,500."
While Carrie has been told the wedding can go ahead, she says she does not trust the company due to what she sees as a "lack of communication, care and honesty".
"We feel really betrayed. It's a horrible feeling, to be ghosted and ignored is awful," she added.
Hayley Clarke now also wants to cancel her wedding which was to be at Northop Hall Country House Hotel in Flintshire, Wales.
She claims she kept trying to phone the company only for her calls to go dead after she was blocked by her wedding planner.
"I have changed to another venue because I have lost all faith," Hayley, whose great-aunt died after the original wedding date was pushed back, said.
"We have had to dip into our savings because I do not want to delay my wedding again."
Along with partner Declan, 27, the 30-year-old says she is now thousands of pounds out of pocket.
Alarm bells started ringing for another woman, who asked to remain anonymous, when she had to move her wedding from May to August and did not receive an updated contract from bigdaywedding.co.uk, she claimed.
Similarly frozen out by the company, the 28-year-old says she visited Northop Hall and found a sign on the door announcing the property management had changed hands.
"The phone lines are not ringing through to the wedding planner and the hotel, the emails are bouncing back and I have also tried to contact the apparent new wedding planner," she said.
"Currently I have had no contact with the venue or wedding planner or the owners.
"I feel like both hotels have sold us a dream and the reality is far from it."
The physician's associate, who says she has not had an updated contract confirming the rescheduled date, added: "I even took a trip to Northop Hall to see if I could speak to anybody there and literally the lights were on in the hotel but nobody was home.
"When I went to Northop after I found out about the change in ownership (I found) the grounds are maintained, but in the front upstairs room you can see the ceiling has collapsed."
Just shy of a hundred people have joined a Facebook page to share similar complaints about the bigdaywedding.co.uk
They have banded together to hire a lawyer and call on the Competition and Markets Authority to investigate.
A spokesperson for bigdaywedding.co.uk said: "The hotels are reopening in June and everyone will get their wedding as planned and those who’s (sic) dates could not be honoured due to Covid restrictions will or have been offered alternative dates.
"Our wedding planner has quit so I have now stepped in and I am in the process of contacting all the brides and grooms to put their minds at rest."
