ALBOS followers came to the rescue recently when Stone resident Amy Davies reached out after her carefully planned wedding venue fell through.
Amy & her fiance Edward got engaged on Christmas Day 2019, and quickly locked in their wedding for August 2021 at new venue Buttlerley Heyes Farm in Eccleshall. The venue was due to be developed over 2020 and open later in the summer.
Amy said: “The venue was a beautiful lakeside setting with a tipi large enough for 150 guests, including seating, furnishings, lights, catering tent, generators, toilets and a lot more. We got a good deal so went ahead with booking and planning everything else.
By August 2020, we had all bridesmaids and groomsmen outfits, brides dress and grooms outfit, cars, make-up, hair, accommodation for out of town guests, out door catering and much more all booked. This is when they informed us they were no longer going to open.”
Originally when booking, Amy & Edward asked about planning permission for the site and were told it wasn’t a problem. It later transpired that they were planning on running on temporary events notices. After seeing a news article stating the new wedding venue was planned and could create jobs if the planning permission went through, and reading on local Eccleshall Facebook pages that the local residents were unhappy with the plans, concerned Amy contacted Buttlerley Heyes Farm and was told not to worry.
However, at the beginning of August the call came, Buttlerley Heyes Farm were no long going ahead with opening.
“I explained we felt very misled”, recalled Amy, “as throughout the whole process we were told everything was OK and the wedding would be going ahead, when in fact this wasn’t the case, and the necessary planning and research that should have been doing prior to selling weddings hadn’t been done.”
Struggling to find a venue close to the St Michael’s Church, where the ceremony would be held, a lot of venues were either already booked with couples moving their dates due to Covid-19, or provided their own catering services, which Amy & Edward had already put deposits down on based on the original venue.
Worried, Amy made a visitor’s post on A Little Bit of Stone, which we shared on our main page. Our followers came out in force, with nearly 150 comments! In no time, Amy & Edward had found a perfect new venue from the many suggestions, Little Stoke Cricket Club. The club, set in open green fields, is secure, has all necessary amenities, but gives Amy & Edward the freedom to use the suppliers they’d already set their hearts on!
Barry Roden, of Little Stoke Cricket Club said; “Here at Little Stoke we often host an array of celebrations and are lucky to have members of our club who have extensive knowledge in the events industry. When we saw Victoria’s post on Facebook it was only right to offer her a solution as we pride ourselves in our community spirit.”
Now Amy is free to start her teacher training program in September, without having to worry about starting to plan from scratch a wedding she thought was already well underway!
“Thanks to ALBOS followers, we are now very much looking forward to our wedding again!”
We wish Amy & Edward all the best for their wedding prep, and in their future lives together.
