A COUPLE from Towyn celebrated an “absolutely lovely” wedding at a Llanrwst venue after the hotel in the Conwy Valley they had initially booked closed to the public to accommodate asylum seekers.

Lucie Campbell, 28, was set to marry her husband, Simon Pritchard, at the Hilton Garden Inn at Adventure Parc Snowdonia in Dolgarrog on December 10.

But having booked her wedding more than a year ago at the hotel, she was told by her wedding co-ordinator on November 5 that this would not be possible due to the venue closing to the public to provide emergency accommodation.

Fortunately for Lucie and Simon, they were able to celebrate their wedding on the same date at Plas Maenan Country House in Llanrwst instead.

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Towyn couple’s wedding saved after initial venue housed asylum seekers

Towyn woman’s wedding ruined as Dolgarrog hotel houses asylum seekers

 

The couple, who have been together for more than a decade, and have three children, celebrated their marriage at a “stunning” venue, and thanked Plas Maenan for stepping in to save their wedding.

Lucie said: “The day was absolutely lovely. Despite cutting back on a few guests, everything else went more or less to plan.

“The venue was amazing and it looked absolutely stunning with the help of D&D Occasions North Wales.

“We believe, had it not have been there, our day would have been completely different. The staff were great and the food was beautiful.

“We can not recommend Plas Maenan enough. We are so grateful for all that they did for us and for not just making the day special, but the full weekend, and for stepping in to help when we were left with no venue.

“It was a blessing in disguise as it turned out perfect for us and all of the children absolutely loved it. We were even lucky enough to get snow on our big day, a real winter wonderland!”

The Hilton Garden Inn has closed to the public to support a UK Government contract, it said.

Though, Lucie said previously that the hotel did at least fully refund her the thousands of pounds spent on hiring the premises for her wedding.

She added: “Of course, what happened with the Hilton put a huge dampener on the whole experience for us, but it also made us realise what was important to us and why we were doing this.

“All of our chosen suppliers were absolutely brilliant and so understanding with what had happened. We just can’t fault any of them.

“We did take time out after the wedding at a beautiful cottage here in Wales, it was the perfect ending to a weekend of celebrations. We were able to switch off and enjoy some time as a family.”

The Home Office does not comment on operational arrangements for individual sites used for asylum accommodation.

It added that it is working hard to find appropriate dispersed accommodation for migrants, asylum seekers and Afghan refugees as soon as possible.

It also urged local authorities to do all they can to help house people permanently.

The cost of accommodating asylum seekers in hotels is £5.6million a day, while the cost of accommodating Afghans in bridging hotels is £1.2m a day.

A Home Office spokesperson said: “The number of people arriving in the UK who require accommodation has reached record levels and has put our asylum system under incredible strain.

“The use of hotels to house asylum seekers is unacceptable – there are currently more than 37,000 asylum seekers in hotels costing the UK taxpayer £5.6million a day.

“The use of hotels is a short-term solution and we are working hard with local authorities to find appropriate accommodation.”

Robin Millar, the MP for Aberconwy, has raised a number of concerns about the location of the site and its suitability for asylum seekers.

Meanwhile, Cllr Charlie McCoubrey, leader of Conwy County Borough Council, said that the local authority was not given advance notice about these arrangements.