Bride's wedding planner cancelled their £11k do just five days before the ceremony

A bride says her wedding planner cancelled their £11k do just five days before the ceremony - and the couple are still waiting to get most of their money back.

Megan Greenaway, 30, and husband Jordan, 28, hired Style and Joy Events to provide a marquee, decorations, DJ equipment, flowers and catering .

But just days before they were due to tie the knot, they got an email to say the company was closing down and the owner, Sandie Chivers was ill, they claim.

The couple had to take out a high interest emergency loan and hastily rearrange the big day with new vendors.

Megan says she even drove three and a half hours to Sandie’s house to confront her.

And while they secured a court order for repayment, bailiffs have been unable to retrieve the money, and Megan says Sandie has only handed back £2,000.

Megan, who is an agricultural college lecturer and a registered veterinary nurse, said: “It keeps me up most nights. It’s really put us back. It’s put our family back - we’re on the verge of a complete breakdown.”

Megan discovered Sandie through a bridal group on Facebook, and paid the deposit in December 2020. After a site visit with Sandie in the summer of 2021 to Jordan’s grandparent’s non-working farm grounds in Stoke Row, Henley-on-Thames, the pair completed the final payment in March 2022.

With invitations sent out to more than 100 guests and preparations well underway, Megan received an email at 9pm - five days before the wedding - informing her that the company was closing down and Sandie was unwell, she says.

Megan could not get through to anyone and turned to the internet, where research found a string of concerning reviews from other couples, she said.

“We were in panic mode," she said. “I was thinking 'oh my goodness what have I done'.”

The next day, Megan drove to Sandie’s house to confront her, and said she found the wedding planner painting a fence in her garden.

“I said to her, what are you playing at? Where’s my money?” Megan recalled, to which Sandie is said to have responded: “Well, I haven’t got it."

Despite the eleventh hour let-down, the couple leaned on friends and family to make the day a success, with a local marquee company stepping in to help for the big day on on April 23 2022.

“All of our friends and family rallied, helped do the decor, everyone was helping put up tables and chairs and my bridesmaids and I were making flower bouquets the day before my wedding”, Megan said.

“It turned into a massive family friend effort and a beautiful wedding.”

When the dust settled, Megan and Jordan, who works as a HGV mechanic, were left with both a wedding-shaped hole in their finances and a last-minute loan with a high APR to pay back.

“It has put financial strain, so much stress, so much anxiety on us”, Megan said.

The couple are still paying back the loan, have been forced to put on hold any plans to buy a home, and entered a protracted legal battle against Sandie over the missing money.

In December 2023, Deputy District Judge Child sitting in the County Court at Reading ordered Sandie, trading as Style and Joy Events, to pay the debt, interest and costs of £958.96 to Megan, amounting to £12,184.30.

Megan said Sandie had initially repaid £2,000.

Style and Joy Events has an average rating of 2.1 from 18 Google reviews, with many unsatisfied customers detailing no shows and failure to refund.

According to Companies House, Sandie put in an application to voluntarily strike off and dissolve the company on March 29, 2022, some three weeks before she informed the Greenaways.  The company was officially dissolved in January 2023.

When Sandie was approached for comment, her sister responded on her behalf.

Sandie’s sister, Leah, said someone else was to blame for the disappearance of the owed funds and issued a plea for privacy.

“My sister is trying to get on with her life and take care of her boys, one of which is disabled”, she said, adding: “She has people turning up to her house, threatening her while her two children are present.

“She doesn't answer telephone calls from numbers she doesn’t recognise. That is how bad it has got. I have to come over every day.”

She said that bailiffs had been “sent away” with paperwork detailing Sandie as a “vulnerable” person and said any prospect of refunds would be unlikely because of Sandie’s health.