Couples in limbo as wedding venue goes bust

Kate Flanagan and Glen Gavin were to get married at The Blazing Donkey on 18 October

Couples due to get married at a venue in Kent which has appointed administrators have spoken about their "nightmare".

A letter pinned up at The Blazing Donkey in Sandwich has announced their closure.

Becca Lee, who was to get married at the venue on 11 October, said: "It's supposedly the happiest day of your life, that most people have been dreaming and saving for a long time, so to have that sort of rug pulled out from you is a lot to process."

The letter at The Blazing Donkey, which has been approached for comment, said: "The family acknowledge the disappointment this may cause to couples affected by these circumstances, and extend their deepest regret that such action has so sadly become necessary."

Ms Lee and her partner Keith Hoadley, from Aylesford, were expecting 80 guests to attend their wedding.

They couple said they were about £6,500 out of pocket but had held back paying another £6,000 as they were not happy with the organisation of the venue before they heard the news.

"To find out on Facebook is utterly disgraceful to be quite honest, especially seeing as we were only there the week before last," Ms Lee said.

The couple are now hopeful they have found another venue.

"I've been very pleasantly surprised by the reaction from the Kent wedding community because there are so many suppliers and venues that have just reached out," Ms Lee added.

The couple said they still had not been contacted by The Blazing Donkey.

'Floods of tears'

Meanwhile, Kate Flanagan and Glen Gavin were planning to get married at The Blazing Donkey on 18 October, with an expected 140 guests.

The couple, from near Molesey in Surrey, said they were told about administrators being appointed on Tuesday by the person making their cake, who had seen the letter at the venue.

The pair said they could lose about £20,000 as they had paid for everything up front.

Mr Gavin, who labelled the situation a "nightmare", said his fiancée was in "floods of tears" when they found out, and that they had "shell shock".

He added: "At the end of the day, me and Kate are putting a brave face on and looking on the bright side and already getting on with things, because at the end of the day, we want to marry each other."

The couple said they had not heard anything directly from the venue.

"Shock is slowly and gradually turning into anger," Mr Gavin added.

As of Wednesday, the couple had not found a new venue.

The letter at the venue, from the board of directors, said co-directors Richard and Sherry Martin had taken a step back from the day-to-day running of the site in January due to health issues.

"This marks the end of more than 36 years of ownership," the letter said.

"The Martin family are proud to have established The Blazing Donkey as a leading hospitality venue in the area and consider it a privilege to have hosted over 2,000 weddings since 1999."