Further misery for couple after wedding blow

A COUPLE whose plans for their big day were ruined after a wedding company collapsed have been dealt another blow after learning their wedding insurance does not cover what they paid the company.

IT manager Andrew Francombe, 27, and office manager Susan Crouch, 27, were due to marry at Chewton Place in Keynsham on April 10.

Invitations to their dream day had already gone out to 70 guests when Aspire Venues Ltd went into administration in December.

A total of 85 couples had placed deposits with the company for their weddings, paying out more than £210,000 between them. Aspire held a heated meeting with couples in Clifton in which they revealed that the company was £1.5 million in debt but had assets of just £9,500.

The news was a severe blow but the couple, who had already paid in full for the wedding, were relieved they had wedding insurance.

However the Keynsham couple have now been told by the insurance company, E & L Insurance, that they were not covered for any money spent before the policy was taken out.

The company says on its website that any money paid out before taking out the policy is not covered.

It states: "Please note our policy excludes any payment made for your wedding venue or reception before the inception of cover."

Miss Crouch said she wanted to warn other couples who have been let down by Aspire to check their policies and get onto their insurance companies as soon as possible.

She said: "When the company went under we thought 'phew – at least we have insurance' but that has turned out to be worthless.

"I feel like we had just got over the trauma of the wedding company collapsing and then were met with this.

"We took the insurance out in August when we didn't have a clue that the company was in trouble.

"But the insurance company says we are not covered for the money we had already paid to Aspire.

"I don't understand their policy. Who is going to pay for wedding insurance before they even have a venue? How would you know what level of wedding insurance you need before then?

"What worries me is there may be couples who have a wedding later in the year than us and perhaps have not chased their insurers as hard as we have and might be in line for a nasty, nasty shock.

"We are lucky because we have been begging, borrowing and stealing from family and friends so we can get a wedding together."

Miss Crouch says the couple still hope to hold the wedding on the date they had planned and possibly still at Chewton Place where a new company has taken over.

"My attitude has been that my wedding is on April 10th and they are not taking that away from me," she said.

"We also don't want to have to change the date because all the invitations have been sent out.

"It has been horrible but we have also been thinking about all those people who didn't have wedding insurance and have lost thousands of pounds. We hope they are all OK."

A spokeswoman for E & L Insurance said the company was not in a position to comment as the couple's application had not been processed.