Bride out thousands after Gloucester wedding venue abruptly closes

EPPING, N.H. (MyFoxBoston.com) -- An Epping, New Hampshire woman is out at least $4,000 after discovering the Gloucester Inn where she'd booked her wedding, is in foreclosure. She spoke exclusively to Fox 25 Reporter Heather Hegedus.

Katie Florance, 24, who grew up in Middleton, says she booked The Ocean View Inn and Resort last July for her wedding. It is a historic inn that overlooks the Atlantic Ocean, which, according to its brochure, has been available for weddings since 1994 under the same ownership.

This week, she called the inn, after she hadn't heard from them for months. She wanted to pay her food deposit. Instead, she discovered the phone line had been disconnected and the building was locked.

Florance and her Maid-of-Honor, Christina Scopa, did some Internet searches and found that the inn will be sold at auction, next month.

"I was very emotional. I did not take the news well," said Florance. "I'm not going to make assumptions about what happened but I'm just really disappointed that no one contacted me."

Now Florance has to start from square one, and find a place that can hold her reception for the date this July she's already booked with her church.

Scopa thinks the inn owes her friend a phone call, apology and her money back. And not just the $4,000 deposit Florance put down: Florance's relatives' credit cards were also charged for the rooms they planned to stay in during the wedding.

"I think it's despicable what they did: not giving anyone notice," said Scopa.

Florance and Scopa say when they called Gloucester Police to report what happened, they were told they weren't the only bride to call that week -- or even that day.

Gloucester Police told Fox 25 they believe the matter might have to be resolved in Civil Court, but they're still investigating.

Florance says there was nothing in the contract she and her fiancee signed that said anything about being reimbursed for their deposit in the event of the business closing.

Now Florance is trying to get the word out to other brides to be careful what you sign, and especially get the word out to any other brides who booked at The Ocean View Inn and Resort.

"Make sure you have things in writing because you never know. No matter how wonderful the venue seems you need to be careful," said Florance.

Cox Media Group