On Friday, around 20 couples were suddenly sent an email informing them that the business that is planning their wedding is now bankrupt, leaving their dream nuptials in tatters
Dozens of brides have had their dreams of a perfect wedding day in Tenerife ruined after being told their wedding planner’s business has gone bust.
Some of the brides say they had handed over as much as £30,000 to the Weddings in Tenerife SL, run by Claire Lopez, a 48-year-old British national.
On Friday, the brides were suddenly sent an email informing them that the business is now bankrupt. Around 20 couples have been left in limbo, their ceremonies in jeopardy and with only a few or none of the items they paid for actually bought.
One Merseyside couple said their dreams turned into a “nightmare” after they were told about the insolvency.
Kayleigh Billington and Phil Golding had put £15,000 towards their big day, working with Ms Lopez since 2023.
They said that Ms Lopez, through her company Weddings in Tenerife, had promised to take care of everything from the venue to food, music and all the extra details.
Having handed over a total of £14,700 to the planner, Ms Billington, who lives in Southport, said she and her fiancé were incredibly excited to be getting ready to fly out with their 40 guests for a magical event this coming Saturday (June 6).
Speaking about the planning of the big day, 39-year-old Ms Billington told the Liverpool Echo: “We have been planning the wedding since 2023. We got engaged in 2022 in Tenerife and while we were there we thought, why don’t we get married here, because we love it.
“We researched it and found this lady called Claire Lopez and her company is literally called Weddings in Tenerife by Claire Lopez. We paid a deposit with her and booked our wedding. She said she would do everything for us. She was a well-established wedding planner there. We thought we had made a really good decision.”
The couple made a number of regular payments over the intervening years and even flew out several times to meet with Ms Lopez and discuss details. But their dreams came crashing down on May 22.
“I woke up and I got a WhatsApp message from the events co-ordinator at the hotel where we are having the wedding,” said Ms Billington “They asked if we had heard anything about our wedding planner as they had heard something.
“My heart stopped. I started messaging and phoning Claire Lopez and got nothing. Five minutes later I got an email from her.”
An email from Ms Lopez to Ms Billington seen by the Echo said Ms Lopez’s company had informed the Commercial Court of Santa Cruz de Tenerife that it will be filing for insolvency as soon as its lawyer has prepared the necessary documents.
The email adds: “We are no longer allowed to perform any activities regarding Weddings in Tenerife S.L, which means we will not be able to deliver any products or services for your wedding.
“Even though it doesn’t offer you any consolation, I still want to emphasise that we have done our utmost to avoid this situation, and that we are aware of the implications this will have for you. Unfortunately, there is nothing we can do about it.”
Ms Billington says she has not had any further information from Ms Lopez, despite frantic attempts to reach her.
To her horror, she then found out that the vast majority of the money they had handed over had not made its way to the suppliers providing the key services for their big day.
Ms Billington added: “I have been trying to contact suppliers and quite a few of them have told us that we are booked in with them for June 6, but that they haven’t received any deposits or payments. The only thing that has been paid for is a one thousand Euro deposit for the venue.”
“In total we have handed over £14,700. We don’t know where all our money has gone. Because we went through a third party wedding planner, our insurance doesn’t appear to cover it.”
A devastated Ms Billington was then forced into the nightmare scenario of having to contact all her wedding guests – who had already secured accommodation and flights for the trip – to tell them she believed the wedding was off.
Thankfully, the couple, who have three children between them, have since been in touch with a number of suppliers who have offered them discounts and support, meaning they can still go ahead with a wedding on Saturday – but it has cost them even more money.
Ms Billington added: “The hotel have been absolutely amazing and have offered us lots of discounts and a few freebies, saying they can throw something together for us. I can’t thank them enough. The Tenerife community have really supported us.
“We have managed to get it all down to around eight thousand Euros, which we have had to take out a new credit card to pay for. That’s on top of what we have already paid. It’s an astronomical amount of money really.
“But we are going ahead with it. We are not going to let what’s happened ruin our wedding day. We want to make it better than it was ever going to be – but obviously it has come at a big financial cost.”
The couple, who were due to fly out to Tenerife today and also file a complaint with local police, have set up a GoFundMe page to help with their plight, with a goal of £1,200.
Other couples are believed to be affected, reports the Daily Mail. One woman and her partner had been set to tie the knot on the Spanish island next October, parting with £13,000 of an intended £29,000 of their hard-earned cash in instalments.
All their wedding planner has done, the couple claims in anonymous comments to the Mail, is pay just over £400 in a venue deposit. The money handed over was supposed to go towards the whole day, including venues, decorations, DJ, cake and other vital wedding day features.
“We’re cancelling our wedding in Tenerife now because we’ve lost £13,000. We are just going to do a registry office ceremony here,” the bride told the Mail.
“We can’t even think about planning another wedding right now because what’s happened is so awful.”
Adding to the heartbreak, the same couple had chosen not to go ahead with IVF treatment so they could afford their big day. Some of the inheritance left by the bride’s father, who died from a pulmonary embolism in 2022, was used.
“I could have been pregnant by now and spent that £13,000 on IVF. Now I don’t have a wedding, nor do I have a baby,” she said.
Any police report the couple wishes to make must be done in person in Tenerife, cops say, furthering the financial woe.
Ella Hudson, 22, and her partner Sam Tuck, 23, from Cambridgeshire, are also in a tricky situation.
They say they paid £16,000 for a wedding on June 6 after they were recommended Ms Lopez’s services by a friend.
“Nothing’s been paid, literally nothing. It will be another £10,000 to actually try to afford everything again,” Ms Hudson said. She added she had been “shattered” by the news.
The Weddings in Tenerife SL firm listed Ms Lopez as a co-director along with her partner Lars Jensen, a Dutch national, in 2023. It was under Ms Lopez’s maiden name Claire Oxenham and to a property in Arona in Tenerife. In 2024, Ms Lopez is listed as the sole director.
The Mirror has contacted Ms Lopez and Spanish police for comment.
