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Restaurants save the day after wedding caterer no-show

Angela FergusonNorth West
News imageUnveil by Hollie A man with short brown hair and a beard and wearing a white shirt, black waistcoat and black trousers is smiling as he stands next to a woman with long brown hair which is tied up and a long white wedding dress with veil. She is holding a bunch of yellow and pink flowers. They appear to be standing outside a venue.Unveil by Hollie
Matt and Kate Dean had to hastily source catering after the firm they had booked let them down

A couple have praised staff at three restaurants that stepped in to save the day when they were let down by wedding caterers at the last minute.

Kate and Matt Dean from Skelmersdale, Lancashire, were preparing to celebrate their wedding with family and friends at a venue in Ormskirk when the caterers failed to turn up and they were unable to get in touch with them.

With guests starting to arrive, Kate said they decided to ask two local restaurants if they could help.

Kate said she first approached restaurant staff at Piri Piri Grill, saying: "Hi! I don't suppose you can cook for 100 people?" and "he just went, 'oh, when?'... and I went, 'now'".

The couple, who have four children aged two to 12 between them, were married at Ormskirk Register Office on 13 July.

They decided to organise a special celebration for family and friends at Lost and Found Ormskirk on Sunday and were looking forward to the food arriving.

They arrived at the venue two hours ahead of time to get it ready but when time was ticking on - with no sign of the caterers - their concern grew.

They tried to call and message the business but there was no response and despite initially feeling upset - including crying in the bathroom at one point - Kate quickly hatched a back-up plan.

"I'm quite a laid back person anyway, so I was in fire-fighting mode, like we have got all these people coming and no food, 'what are we going to do?'," she said.

Kate said when guests started arriving she thought about local venues she liked.

"I just turned to Matt's family and said, 'if I can sort this, is everybody OK?'"

News imageUnveil by Hollie A woman with long brown hair and a floral sleeveless dress has her hand raised and held in front of the left side of her face as she smiles while talking to her friend. She is holding a drink in a glass. Her friend has long blonde hair and an orange strappy dress and is looking at her and smiling.Unveil by Hollie
Kate was captured smiling with relief here with her best friend Jade Foley, right, when she saw a "tower of pizza boxes" coming through the door

The 32-year-old nail technician said they had been planning their wedding since September, after postman Matt, 36, proposed in 2022.

She said the couple approached the teams at Piri Piri Grill and also at Scoozi Pizza and Pasta in Ormskirk and were hugely relieved when they agreed to help out.

Despite both restaurants being busy with the World Cup final on that day, they insisted on closing to the public and devoting themselves to helping out the newlyweds, she added.

Kate said it was great to see "towers of pizza boxes" which were "taller than Matt and he is 5ft 9ins (1.8m)".

Meanwhile, staff at the Lost and Found venue in Ormskirk were "more than accommodating" and "so helpful" in working to ensure the change of plan ran smoothly, she said.

Kate said the restaurant staff "were so amazing" and came back later on to check that everything was fine.

She said that despite having "ended up crying in the bathroom" at one point, they could see the funny side to what happened as they looked back on the photos.

"It ended up being quite funny - it was kind of like the wedding story."

Their children enjoyed "going around like little waiters with like four pizza boxes" with one saying "you ordered a pizza", she said.

News imageUnveil by Hollie A woman with long brown hair is smiling, while a little girl with dark blonde hair which is tied back is also smiling while sitting on her knee in a venue. A largely empty table with a white tablecloth covering it is behind them.Unveil by Hollie
Kate, pictured with her two-year-old daughter, says helpful staff at all three venues made it a wedding celebration to remember

Kate said she and Matt were grateful to family and friends for their support, including her best friend Jade Foley, who stepped in to pay a deposit for the hastily arranged new catering.

She said she turned her phone off later on her wedding day to try to switch off but, when she turned it back on the following day, she had missed messages and calls from the catering business owner.

They had apologised for what happened, refunded their money and explained that the no-show was due to an issue on the day beyond their control.

Kate said that, as a fellow business owner, she did not wish to name the firm as she understood that such things could happen and did not want them criticised on social media.

News imageUnveil by Hollie A woman with long brown hair and a floral dress is smiling as she holds a little girl with a pink dress with a heart pattern. The little girl has dark blonde hair which is tied back. A man is standing just behind the woman and smiling. He has short brown hair and a beard and is wearing a short sleeved white shirt. A boy with short brown hair is smiling. He is wearing a grey and white striped shirt.Unveil by Hollie
Kate, pictured with Matt and two of their children, wants people in similar situations to remember that "at the end of the day there are people like me on the other side [of businesses] and there might be a genuine reason as to why these things have happened"
News imageUnveil by Hollie A man with short brown hair and a beard and a white shirt is smiling while holding a pile of eight pizza boxes with a black and white chequered pattern on the sides.Unveil by Hollie
The couple were relieved to see a "tower of pizza boxes" and large servings of pasta brought to the venue by staff at nearby restaurants

Liam Goulding, manager of Lost and Found Ormskirk, said Kate and Matt were "fantastic" and they were "more than happy to help out on such a special day".

He said he was proud of his team, including fellow manager Abi Rose and employee Abbie Lemaire for all they did that day.

Foozi Pizza and Pasta declined to comment. The BBC has approached Piri Piri Grill.

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