Irish couple who lost €26,000 when wedding planner went bust have ‘perfect day’ at last

Newlyweds spent another €40,000 on dream event in Tenerife and were ‘saved’ by the generosity of othersAlan Kent and Sorcha McManigan tied the knot last weekend in Tenerife, Spain An Irish couple who saw their dream Tenerife wedding plans turn into a nightmare after €26,000 they paid the organiser vanished have had their “perfect day” after all. Sorcha McManigan from Dublin and her fiance Alan Kent were married on a banana plantation on the Spanish island last weekend following three frantic months of organising everything from scratch. While there were tears of joy last weekend, there were tears of a very different sort last May when the couple were left heartbroken after wedding planner Claire Lopez mailed them out of the blue to say she was closing her business with immediate effect. They had been dealing with Lopez and her Weddings In Tenerife operation since the autumn of 2024 and had taken multiple trips to Spain to meet her.READ MOREThey had paid €26,000 or two-thirds of what they believed would be the final bill for their wedding, only for it to disappear when the wedding planner closed her business.A podcast on the island was subsequently told by her husband Lars Jensen that there was no point in couples chasing their money because Lopez had nothing left to give.Once Weddings In Tenerife went out of business, McManigan and Kent were faced with a choice – cancel their wedding or try to pull something together in a matter of weeks.[ Tenerife wedding planner that closed suddenly says those chasing money are ‘wasting’ their timeOpens in new window ]They resolved to stick with it and found another wedding planner, Licandros Weddings, who they met for the first time just days before they tied the knot. “They really worked around the clock for us,” McManigan told The Irish Times. “They took our wedding on despite having another couple’s big day also planned for September 19th and they were able to do both. That really saved us.”The wedding planners even gifted the couple a traditional carnaval experience, which saw the newlyweds arrive at the wedding party to the sound of heavy drums as elaborately costumed dancers led the way. Sorcha McManigan and Alan Kent were married on a banana plantation The new wedding planners gifted the couple and their guests a traditional carnaval experience “They were called Tropicana and got all our guests dancing on the tables and on the chairs and really got them into the vibe. So many people told me it was one of the best things they’ve ever experienced at a wedding,” she said.The couple spent €40,000 on the event, a price which covered everything including the big day and the hen and stag party. The money was on top of the €26,000 lost to Weddings In Tenerife, with much of the cash borrowed and gifted from family members.They also got discounts from many of the suppliers who had read about their plight. The two wedding photographers, Eclectic Elegance and Taliaferro, who are specialist content creators, flew in from Florida and Paris to offer their services at no cost.“Loads of people offered us discounts and there were others that couldn’t and I totally understand that because they could not afford it. I‘ll be really honest, we wouldn’t have been able to afford the wedding were it not for the generosity of these people. It kind of restores your faith in humanity,” she said. The couple said the hastily thrown together wedding was ‘definitely better’ than the one they had originally planned McManigan added the couple would be years clearing the newly acquired debt but she had no doubt it was money well spent. “Everyone came together for us. Our families and our friends rallied around us and it just doubled down just how much we wanted to get married and how much we do love each other. I know it is such a cliche but it was the perfect day from start to finish.”She suggested that the hastily thrown together wedding was “definitely better” than the one they had planned over 18 months. [ Alternative venues found for couples due to have weddings at norovirus-hit hotelOpens in new window ]She said she had not run into their original wedding planner while on the island and the couple deliberately did not go looking for her, despite the fact that the celebration happened close to where she lives. “We really wanted to just focus on the new wedding but trying to get our money back will be very much the focus of our attention again now. She still hasn’t contacted us, despite us contacting her, and we are still asking for our money back. We will be taking the legal route now to see what we can recover but that is a slow process.”IN THIS SECTION