‘All my dreams were shattered when our wedding company vanished’

A romantic day was booked and the deposit paid. Then it was all gone in an instant. Emily Baldwin had planned a bucolic wedding. A hundred guests would camp in tents in a riverside meadow and party in a giant tipi in May. But, she says, things began to unravel last summer, when the company she had paid to supply the tipi disappeared, along with her £1,800 deposit. With three months to go, and her budget shredded, she and her fiance have had to cancel their plans.

An unknown number of other couples are facing similar heartache after wedding supplier, Origami Marquees, ceased trading. Its website had offered bespoke designs, event management, a bar service and furniture hire across the country. Those tempted by the gallery of spectacular marquees were promised an “unforgettable experience”. That pledge, at least, was fulfilled as customers are forced back to the drawing board.

As the wedding season approaches amid a cost of living crisis, many more couples could find their big day will become significantly smaller. The average cost of a wedding has climbed to nearly £24,000, but a 24% rise in wedding scams last year, combined with a record number of firms reporting critical financial distress, means some couples may not get what they paid for. Baldwin had discovered Origami Marquees listed on the wedding website Hitched. She and her fiance had a tight budget of £10,000, £6,000 of which was contracted to Origami for the tipi, a sound system, lighting and a stage. The 30% deposit was paid by bank transfer last May, 12 months before the wedding.

“Soon after, the company disappeared,” she says. “Its website was taken down and calls and emails went unanswered.”. Unable to afford a deposit for another venue, the couple are planning a simple beach wedding with a handful of guests in Greece, where they’d booked their honeymoon. “The emotional stress of having to deal with this has taken away from the excitement,” says Baldwin. “I am sure there are still people out there expecting the company to turn up for their wedding.”.

Holly Ryland-Jones fears she has lost her £2,500 deposit after booking Origami to provide a marquee, bar and toilets for her wedding this June. She says it stopped responding to messages last July. “Reputable sites, such as Hitched, advertised Origami Marquees, so I assumed they were a trusted supplier,” she says. “It’s scary to see how easy it is for businesses to ‘disappear’ with our hard-earned money.”.

Another bride-to-be, Emma Phillips-Guy, is £1,600 down and has had to suspend payments to her pension scheme to afford a £2,200 deposit with a different firm. “We paid Origami in May, then everything went quiet,” she says. “The company never had the decency to inform us it would not be supplying us after all,” she says. Origami Marquees, the trading name of Bristol-based Origami Group, was set up with a sole director, Luke Graeme-Wilson, in 2022 and, within a year, there was a proposal for a compulsory strike-off from the Companies House register.

Companies can be removed if they don’t submit accounts or respond to letters. It was allowed to continue trading, but last year no accounts were filed, and, in November, it applied for voluntary liquidation. Couples contacting the Observer say they were not informed the company had ceased trading and, since they had to pay deposits by bank transfer, their money is not protected by banking chargeback schemes.

Avon & Somerset police says it is aware of complaints to Action Fraud about a wedding supplier based in the Bristol area. “Discussions with the local authority’s Trading Standards are ongoing,” it says, “to determine how these matters will be progressed.”. Graeme-Wilson blames “insurmountable financial challenges”. He says: “We are doing everything we can to return deposits as we wind down the company, with all available funds and proceeds from the sale of assets used to meet our outstanding obligations. Some deposits have already been returned, and we expect all deposits for 2025 and beyond will be fully refunded.

“Suggestions of fraud are entirely misplaced – there is nothing more here than a business that, despite many successes, has, unfortunately, not been able to survive.”. He did not respond to questions about how many refunds have been issued, or why customers were not told that the company had ceased trading. Hitched removed Origami’s listing when we got in touch. “We do not have an advertising agreement with it,” it says. “We offer a marketplace that provides real reviews to help couples make informed decisions. When a vendor concern, or complaint, is brought to our attention directly, we take swift action.”.