| Catering company closes, leaves brides without deposits
For 12 area couples, things unexpectedly got a lot more hectic when their caterer shut down! Their deposits, totaling tens of thousands of dollars. John and Nina Gilroy of Raleigh lost $5,000 for their daughter's wedding. Heather Irvin, the owner of Premiere Catering and Events in Raleigh, called to tell Kristi she was going out of business and wouldn't be catering her June wedding. Lora Nemeth and her fiance, Nicholas Kaylor, lost $4,500! They got the news two months before their wedding. Behind the scenes, things were unraveling at Premiere Catering. Beyond the food, Premiere Catering was also supposed to order their wedding cake and handle the flowers! Nemeth talked with Heather Irvin. 5 On Your Side contacted owner Heather Irvin. " She also asked her clients to bear with them ". Smith says she's heard nothing but wonderful things about Irvin, that all of her vendors highly recommended her. "That was in March, and the check has not shown up. As for the rest of their $4,500 dollar deposit? "I asked her to at least have the decency to tell me what she spent the money on," said Nemeth of Irvin. "How are we going to make this work, financially," wondered Nemeth. Smith and her fiance, John Parr, are just one of at least 12 couples left hanging. "It's a lot of money from all of those brides that has gone somewhere," said Smith. Irvin told some of her clients she would be selling off equipment. "You know, it was a nice building, it was a nice website. "She said yes, that she would," added Nemeth. For now, the company's website is still up, and her Raleigh office shows little sign of trouble. "And I was like 'great, could you put that in the mail for us?'" said Nemeth. In an e-mail to WRAL, Irvin said she used the money for businesses expenses such as rent and overhead. 5 On Your Side contacted a number of caterers and deposit amounts vary widely, though most were less than 50%--some only required 10% deposits. When the telephone rang in March, the news was devastating! "She wanted to ask me if I was sitting," said Smith. |
Thursday 3 May 2012
Catering company closes, leaves brides without deposits
