Couple’s dream wedding ‘ruined’ after asylum-seekers moved into Snowdonia hotel

A couple have been forced to find an alternative venue for their wedding after being informed their booking at their first choice was no longer attainable.

Simon Pritchard, 31, and Lucy Campbell, 28, booked the Hilton Garden Inn at Adventure Parc Snowdonia, in Conwy, over a year ago.

The unlucky pair were told the bad news via Zoom with the hotel currently being used as short-term accommodation for asylum seekers, NorthWalesLive reported.

READ MORE:GMB fans confused as regular guest brands asylum seekers as 'wretched people'

The couple find themselves in a quandary as they either must find a new location or call off their wedding.

Lucy said: “When we were told the venue was being cancelled, we were both completely gobsmacked, we woke the next morning hoping it was just a bad dream.

“We’re still a bit shocked. We’d been counting down the days for the wedding to happen. When they told us, we just couldn’t believe it, especially the reason they gave us.”

They received a request for an urgent meeting at the hotel when getting ready for their final meeting regarding the wedding arrangements.

It was on the Zoom meeting when the news was broken to them by the Hilton's wedding coordinator on Saturday evening.

Lucy said no ill will was taken towards staff saying that "It was out of their hands".

She said: “I don’t blame the staff, the people who had to tell me.

"But I’m not sure how to take the claim that the hotel had no choice in the matter, that the Home Office simply demanded it.”

Aberconwy MP Robin Millar has said the hotel is "not a detention centre" as he spoke out on whether it was the best place for refugees to be temporarily housed.

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The couple now have 28 days' notice to give notice of their intentions to switch venue with Lucy stating they don't have "much time" to find a new location.

“We haven’t got much time to find somewhere suitable,” said Lucy.

“I’ve had a look at one place, and while it was very nice, I don’t want to feel as if we have been left with just a single option. I would like a choice, if only to feel as if we haven’t been shoehorned into a venue.

“For now, all I can do is focus on finding a new venue. I really don’t want to have to postpone the wedding. I have to remember that getting married isn’t all about the venue.

"But when you’ve set your heart on a place for more than a year, it’s hard to start thinking about somewhere else at such short notice.”

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