Stoke Park in Buckinghamshire has apologised to bride-to-be Pauline Bailey and fiancé Paul Carty after an email blunder in which the couple were deemed unsuitable for the five-star venue.
The email, sent by the hotel’s wedding planner Michele Connelly, was intended for her sales manager but was accidentally forwarded to the bride-to-be instead. “I know this probably doesn’t sound very nice but I am trying to put this wedding off as I don’t think they are the type of people that we would want to have at Stoke Park,” the email read. “I have put her off for now by telling her the dates that she is looking at are not available…”
Miss Bailey, 27, a drug and alcohol counsellor and her fiancé Paul Carty, 51, an engineer for the Ministry of Defence, believe they were snubbed because the wedding planner took objection to her h2b’s eyebrow piercing, his two small earrings or the age gap between the couple.
“We’re a respectable middle-class, hard-working, well-educated couple,” says Pauline. “Paul and I can hold our own anywhere and in anyone’s company. We are thoroughly decent people and didn’t serve this humiliation.”
The couple, who were looking to spend £10,000 on a reception for 30 people at Stoke Park have now found an alternative venue for their wedding next year. They will tie the knot at Parklands, a beautiful 17th century mansion on the Essex/Hertfordshire border, next June.
Stoke Park is a famous film location, used in Bridget Jones’ Diary, Layer Cake and the James Bond Classic Goldfinger.
