Police probe 'rogue' wedding planner who 'fled country with couples' money' leaving big days in jeopardy
Get daily updates directly to your inbox + Subscribe Thank you for subscribing! Could not subscribe, try again later Invalid Email
Dozens of nuptials are believed to be at risk amid claims a rogue wedding planner at a fairytale UK castle fled the country with thousands of pounds of couples' cash.
Craig Williamson is accused of deliberately double or even triple booking wedding dates at the spectacular Guthrie Castle in Angus, Scotland.
Police are now investigating after horrified brides and grooms-to-be discovered that the bank account they were asked to pay their money into is a private account in Inverness which is not linked to the castle.
Dozens of couples may be affected and the total cash involved could run into hundreds of thousands of pounds, the Daily Record reported .
To make matters even worse, it is not clear which of the bookings should be honoured. There are no records of who has booked what, or when deposits were officially paid.
Williamson is described as a senior staff member at the castle. His whereabouts were not known last night.
Rumours of a crisis at the castle have been spreading rapidly on Twitter and Facebook. And bosses have shut down its website and replaced it with a message asking all prospective wedding couples to get in touch.
Groom Jay Heer is expecting 230 guests at his wedding at the castle in October. Many of them will be travelling from India.
He contacted castle bosses for an update but they have not been able to tell him if his ceremony will go ahead.
Jay, who met Williamson only last month to finalise the arrangements, said: “This is very worrying. We have no idea whether we are affected or not.
“I checked the account number and sort code I was given to pay the deposit into and was told it’s a bank in Inverness and a private account, which is not good.
“We’ve booked decorators, caterers, photographers and entertainment, which hasn’t been cheap. We have so many folk coming from abroad. We just want to know where we stand.”
(Photo: Daily Record)
A bride-to-be due to marry at the castle in July was in tears as she spoke to the Record. She is expecting more than 80 guests and has paid a £6,500 deposit but has now learned she is double-booked with another wedding.
The young woman has tried other venues, but they are all full.
She told the Record: “I just can’t believe it. This was supposed to be the biggest day of our lives but we are potentially having to look at other venues and start from scratch.
“We have been offered the day before but our caterers, photographer and band are all committed to other events.
“Everything seemed fine when Craig Williamson showed us round. He had access to the whole castle, it was like he was the estate manager or something.
“We have since been told that the bank details we were given to pay the deposit were not the castle’s.
“We’re at a bit of a loss at the moment. We don’t know what we’re going to do.”
A groom due to be married next month said: “We still don’t know for sure if we are the only wedding booked for our date.
“They have no record of the bookings as the guy wiped the PC. They will only know when people contact them.”
Wedding trade professionals across Scotland have been alerting their customers as word of the problems spreads.
Kirsty Brown, who runs Dundee firm Memento Wedding Photography, said she had several clients due to marry at the castle.
She wrote on Facebook: “I’ve seen comments from couples who get married there in a few weeks and they’ve found out their date is double or triple-booked. Can’t even imagine how they’ll begin to deal with this.
“We won’t find out if my clients will need to change dates or not. It might affect everything they had booked for that date already... insanity!”
Another photographer, Angus Forbes, said he had half a dozen weddings booked at the castle in the next couple of years.
He added: “Clients have been contacting me about the situation. It seems the castle are pulling out the stops to try to solve the issues.”
A Police Scotland spokeswoman confirmed that officers were investigating the allegations.
A castle employee declined to comment.