The Wild Pheasant Hotel shut down: 'We've lost wedding venue of our dreams'
A couple have lost their life savings after the hotel where they were due to marry ran into financial trouble.
Vicki Manford and Paul Mitchell handed over £2,000 for the day of their dreams just 10 days before administrators moved in.
Now they have been left desperately trying to find another venue before their big day in October.
The Wild Pheasant Hotel in Llangollen was closed down suddenly amid safety concerns. The adjoining spa business is separate and has remained open.
The lunchtime closure left staff without jobs, guests without a bed for the night and those planning weddings and events in the lurch.
Vicki and Paul, from Chirk, were on a camping holiday with their young children when the hotel closed last Wednesday.
MORE: Bookings cancelled as hotel is shut down
Vicki said: "I was in denial at first and just assumed that everything would be sorted out.
"It wasn't until we got home and spoke to the administrators that we realised that we had lost everything, the money and the wedding of my dreams."
"I love the Wild Pheasant. We celebrate all our special occasions there. Just a couple of days after we had paid the money we went back for my birthday. There was absolutely no indication that anything was wrong."
Vicki, 37, has six children ranging in age from three to 20 and said the hotel would have been ideal.
She said: "Because of the children we wanted somewhere that would cater for all of us and where we could have the ceremony and the celebrations in the same place."
She said the couple had always talked about the Wild Pheasant for their wedding.
"It was always our dream venue and when Paul was taken on a permanent contract in his job he proposed to me, saying we could now afford to have a wedding.
"I feel like I have been cheated out of my big day. When we went there for my birthday we even walked around the grounds of the hotel deciding where we would have our photographs taken. Now that's all gone."
A spokeswoman for administrators, Duff and Phelps, said:
"The hotel was closed due to health and safety concerns and all existing bookings will be cancelled.
"With the closure of the hotel, all employees were made redundant with immediate effect."
