Engaged couples have been warned to delay putting down deposits on wedding venues due to the number of hotels going out of business.
The National Consumer Agency (NCA) has received complaints from couples who paid deposits of up to 3,000 for weddings at Kinnitty Castle, now no longer trading.
Catherine Lenihan, the NCA's assistant director, recommends couples pay a "small holding deposit" and the remainder of the deposit six months before the wedding. "It's a big risk to put a significant amount of money down for a wedding that's happening in a year or two because often the hotels themselves cannot be sure they'll be around," she said. "If they go into receivership, the banks, staff redundancies and tax will be paid first, but unsecured