Patshull Hall pledge to honour weddings until September
Couples worried that their weddings will fall through after a popular venue near Wolverhampton went into receivership have today been told that bosses will try to honour bookings up to the end of August.
But anyone whose big day has been planned for after that date has been left in limbo.
Patshull Hall at Burnhill Green near Pattingham called in administrative receivers BDO LLP to deal with the business’s finances and have been calling brides-and-grooms-to-be to break the news.
A total of 29 weddings are booked at the venue between now and September.
BDO say it is now seeking potential buyers for the venue and, in the meantime, a helpline has been set up for people with bookings.
The receivers today said they were in the process of contacting people with bookings.
And they insist that no bookings up to August 31 have been cancelled so far.
Kim Rayment, BDO business restructuring partner, said: “We can confirm that no bookings taking place at Patshull Hall between now and August 31 have yet been cancelled.
The joint administrative receivers are currently in the process of contacting booking holders to discuss their individual circumstances with them.
“The precise arrangements of each couple’s wedding vary enormously and we will do what we can to seek to accommodate their requirements.
“At this time, we are unable to reconfirm with those holding bookings beyond 31 August 2013, but we will be contacting them to provide further information as soon as we are able.”
The announcement was today given a cautious welcome by couples with bookings at the hall.
Richard Perkins of Compton, Wolverhampton, is due to get married to fiancée Clare Stokes at the Grade 1 listed hall in August and stands to lose around £5,000 if it does not go ahead.
Mr Perkins, aged 34, who works at Wolverhampton College, said: “In a way I would have preferred it if they just cancelled it as I would have known where we stood then.
“It sounds like it isn’t 100 per cent that it will still go ahead but we have been told they don’t envisage it will be cancelled.
“We are having to decide whether to bite the bullet and just call it off and lose our money – as we would lose even more if it fell through.
“It has taken the shine off everything really. It has been stressful enough organising the wedding and now we have this to worry about as well.
“I think we are going to go ahead with it because it is all planned now but this is turning into a bit of a nightmare.”
Pattingham florist Ann Raymond said it was very sad to hear of the uncertainty around the wedding venue.
“It’s sad when any company is under threat, but more so when it involves weddings,” she said.
The helpline number is 0121 352 6233.