Our wedding venue cancelled all of the hotel rooms we booked for guests – we’re devastated
A BRIDE and groom have been left furious after their wedding venue cancelled all of their hotel rooms with just WEEKS to go.
Ryan Macready, 29, and Melanie Ovens, 28, were looking forward to their special day at Keavil House Hotel in July and had over 30 rooms booked for their wedding party, family, and guests.
But they were left gutted when the hotel contacted them last Thursday, on Melanie's birthday, to tell them that the rooms which they had £3,000 worth of deposits paid for were now unavailable.
The hotel, in Dunfermline, Fife, had taken on a new "corporate contract" which required all of their rooms to be booked for the next four months for Ukrainian refugees.
As a result, the firm said they could no longer honour the already-agreed contract, leaving the couple scrambling to find other accommodation - which is near impossible at the height of wedding season.
The email, seen by the Scottish Sun, explained to Ryan and Melanie that the cancellation had "absolutely no impact to the wedding reception booking".
But Ryan, a lawyer from Edinburgh, told the Scottish Sun that one of the main reasons they booked with Keavil House Hotel was because it had rooms as they have guests coming from afar.
The couple, who have been engaged for a year and four months after falling in love through Tinder, felt forced to cancel their wedding booking as a result.
Ryan said: "I was absolutely gutted, we have quite a lot of friends and family who are either disabled, living a while away, or elderly and that's why we booked a hotel where everyone could be on-site without having to arrange taxis, travel, all these things, to get home - especially my grandparents, my fiancée's grandparents.
"It was a key aspect of booking it so for them just to suggest this other accommodation - it just didn't reflect why we booked this venue at all.
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"It's a contract they tendered knowing it was going to throw out all the plans for those getting married.
"To go and do that and tender for the contract knowing fine well how much it's going to put out everybody's plans... I just thought was a disgraceful thing to do and I think it will damage their reputation as a wedding venue for a long time."
Luckily, Ryan and Melanie managed to secure the Garvock House Hotel in Dunfermline for their wedding instead.
But Ryan explained that the change means Melanie won't be able to have the wedding of her dreams.
He said: "We're extremely lucky that we've been able to secure another venue but this weekend was just chaos trying to get that re-planned and re-booked.
"We chose the Keavil because my fiancée really wanted to get married outside in the gardens, and now we're not going to be able to do that.
"I wouldn't go as far as to say it's been ruined or anything like that but it's certainly had a negative impact on it.
"It certainly added significant distress and changes what the day was intended to look like, especially for my fiancée who was really keen to get married outside."
Ryan also went on to explain that because the booking is so late, Garvock House didn't have the same number of rooms available.
He added: "They didn't have the full availability that we would have wanted or even to get as many people booked as we had booked at Keavil.
"So that's just an additional thing we've got to do, to either move people around from Garvock to other places and make sure we've got all the groomsmen and bridal party because they'll be helping on the day."
Ryan praised the team at Garvock House Hotel for swooping in and saving the day.
He said: "As much as in our head it's left us with a really sour taste of Keavil house it's also left us extremely grateful to Garvock House for everything they've done - they have been really sympathetic to the situation and I guess that's why the wedding will be as close to what Melanie really wanted and have a special day as can be."
A statement from Keavil House Hotel said: "From 29th May 2023, Keavil House Hotel has contracted to accommodate people from Ukraine who have been forced to leave Ukraine due to the war. This is an official government programme called the Ukraine Evacuation Scheme.
"Our guests will be people who have been permitted to leave the country because of the ongoing threat to life. These are people in desperate circumstances who are being accommodated by many European countries on official programmes until the war is over and they can return home to Ukraine.
"Keavil House Hotel is pleased to help these individuals, couples and children by providing a comfortable home until they can return to Ukraine. We are not accommodating illegal immigrants or asylum seekers.
"As a result of this corporate contract, all the bedrooms of Keavil House Hotel will become fully booked from 29th May. There is no impact on our ability to cater for weddings and large banqueting events in our separate Elgin Suite. Our private members’ Picture of Health leisure club is also unaffected and will operate normally, with access only for members of the club.
"We are proactively contacting all customers who have booked accommodation at Keavil House Hotel for the next few months and have explained to them that we are unable to provide bedroom accommodation from 29th May.
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"We are offering to re-book customers into alternative local hotels. Any weddings which are booked at the hotel over the next few months and require accommodation, will be contacted individually and specific arrangements made with these guests."
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