Portland couple's wedding day hitch (From Dorset Echo)

Portland couple's wedding day hitch

10:10am Friday 10th July 2009

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A COUPLE have told of the ‘horrendous’ moment when a hotel owner said: ‘I’ve got no record of your wedding booking.’ Jayne Ingleheart-Manners and her husband Tim Manners had to act quickly after finding out functions manager Karen Warr had double-booked their reception and also stolen £1,114 of the deposit they had already paid in cash.

The couple, of East Street, Portland, were left without a venue as, unlike Warr’s other three victims, their wedding reception was double-booked at the Riviera in Weymouth and they had to look elsewhere.

Mrs Ingleheart-Manners, 33, said: “I was trying to get hold of Karen to pay some money and finalise some rooms when the owners said, ‘I’m sorry, I don’t know how to tell you this but I’ve got no record of your booking’.

“It was horrendous and I could not even talk on the phone.

“How on Earth were we going to find a venue at that short notice with less than a month to go.

“We wanted all sets of the family to be together and that’s why we had booked the Riviera.”

Karen Mary Warr, 47, pleaded guilty to four charges of theft by an employee and a further three charges of theft were taken into consideration.

Her sentence was deferred from March because Warr, of Wheat Farland, Chickerell, had been undergoing treatment for breast cancer.

Warr received a six-month prison sentence suspended for two years and was told to complete 100 hours of unpaid work.

She was also ordered to pay £4,714 compensation to the Riviera Hotel after the venue’s owners honoured the payments stolen by her.

Mrs Ingleheart-Manners said family members were phoning her saying the Riviera was fully booked when she was expecting rooms to be set aside for them. She added: “I just could not cope with it. It was awful.

“I could not believe how she could have done it because we would have had people turning up without a room. “She could have completely ruined everything so how could she live with herself. Finding out she has done it to three other couples is horrendous.”

The couple managed to re-book at the Rembrandt and their marriage went ahead at St Andrew’s Church in Preston as planned.

Mrs Ingleheart-Manners added: “We were panicking but the Rembrandt were brilliant and came to our rescue.

“It worked out well in the end but it was an absolute nightmare. You’ve got enough on your plate let alone knowing the wedding you’ve booked was double-booked.”

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