Mother fears she'll lose dream wedding venue and £5,500 deposit

Mother-of-three who has been saving for her wedding for FOUR years fears she will lose her dream venue and £5,500 deposit after the hotel went bust

  • Sasha Miles has been planning her wedding to Fraser Monahan for four years
  • Couple have been together 8 years and share three kids aged 5, 3 and 10 months
  • Due to get married at Botleigh Grange Hotel in Southampton on May 23 this year
  • Hotel in administration and closed after bad press over food safety inspections
  • Sasha hadn’t got round to getting wedding insurance after difficult pregnancy 

A mother-of-three who has been saving for her wedding for four years is terrified she will lose her dream venue and £5,500 deposit after the hotel went bust.

Sasha Miles, from Southampton, is due to marry Fraser Monahan, a roofer, whom she has been with for eight years, on May 23, after the pair got engaged four years ago.

They delayed their big day to save up, and chose Botleigh Grange Hotel in Southampton because it was big enough to host their large families.

But the couple, both in their mid-20s, are now terrified they may have to cancel their wedding after the venue went into administration and closed, following bad press over food safety inspections, and they’ve already cancelled their family honeymoon to Majorca.

Sasha Miles is due to marry Fraser Monahan, a roofer, whom she has been with for eight years, on May 23, after the pair got engaged four years ago. Pictured with their three children

Sasha told FEMAIL: ‘We choose this hotel because I have a large family to cater for and every other venue we looked at wasn’t quite big enough for what I had in mind. And I just loved the outside of the building and the hotels grounds.

‘We have been told it’s unlikely we will get our money back which deeply upsets me. 

‘We have been told if the hotel does sell successfully, the new buyer might honour our bookings, but legally they don’t have to. 

‘He also said my friends and family would more than likely have to pay for their room reservations again.’

Sasha, who runs Feeding Tiny Tums, a catering business which prepares healthy homemade meals for children, said she hadn’t got round to sorting wedding insurance due to a difficult pregnancy with her son, who is 10 months old.

The couple are now terrified they may have to cancel their wedding after the venue, Botleigh Grange Hotel, pictured, went into administration and closed, following bad press over food safety inspections

The couple delayed their big day to save up, and chose Botleigh Grange Hotel in Southampton because it was big enough to host their large families. They have now cancelled their honeymoon in Majorca

She suffered with hyperemesis gravidarum, a form of extreme morning sickness which the Duchess of Cambridge also endured with her three children. 

‘From a few days before I found out I was pregnant, I was in and out of hospital every week having fluids, anti-sickness injections and anti-sickness tablets to manage the sickness at home,’ Sasha recalled.

‘I lost two stone during my pregnancy from hyperemesis gravidarum. At 13 weeks my screening came back and said that there was a high risk my baby would have Down’s syndrome or Edwards syndrome.

‘I had to have a xhorionic villus sampling (CVS) test and it turned out he hadn’t, but this was a scary time for my family.’

Sasha also needed surgery in July 2018 to remove benign tumours from her breast, and had another scare in December when she found a lump. 

Sasha needed surgery in July 2018 to remove benign tumours from her breast, and had another scare in December when she found a lump

‘Before they removed the lumps they weren’t sure if they were cancerous. It was a very scary upsetting time for my partner and I,’ Sasha explained.

‘I also found a lump in December and had to go back to the breast clinic. Luckily this was also benign.’

The couple reserved Botleigh Grange for their wedding three years ago, and 20 bedrooms were booked and paid for by their family members.

Now the pair are worried their money will be lost. Fraser told ITV News: ‘Things are quite tight, so that’s why we picked quite a large gap from when we got engaged to when we’re getting married, so we could take time to plan and spend money how we wanted to and get everything exactly how my partner wanted it. 

‘Obviously now that’s probably not going to be the case.’

To help the family out in the worst case scenario, their friend Kate Cooper has set up GoFundMe page.

Fraser told ITV News : ‘Things are quite tight so that’s why we picked quite a large gap from when we got engaged to when we’re getting married, so we could take time to plan and spend money how we wanted to and get everything exactly how my partner wanted it. Obviously now that’s probably not going to be the case’

Kate wrote: ‘Things have been really testing for this young family, from both starting a new business to health scares and worries; it’s been a few years of ups and downs. 

‘I know personally that while undergoing surgery for suspected breast cancer, wedding planning and organisation was one of the things that kept them both busy during this worrying time.’

She added that their start to 2020 hasn’t been easy, with ‘cars being broken into and washing machines breaking’. 

Until it closed, the hotel was run by a company called Addison Way Limited. In November it was given a food hygiene rating of 1 out of 5, and blamed the subsequent negative press for its poor trading.

The inspection found the cleanliness and condition of the building were in dire need of improvements.

Sasha’s friend Kate wrote on their GoFundMe page: ‘Things have been really testing for this young family, from both starting a new business to health scares and worries; it’s been a few years of ups and downs’

Sasha said she contacted the venue numerous times to discuss what she had seen on social media and in the local press, but claims she was told it was ‘all hearsay’.

‘Every time we tried to schedule an appointment with them, I felt as if I was a burden and the wedding coordinator was always very slow at replying,’ she said. 

‘I would be heartbroken to lose our money and it’s not something I will take lightly. I plan to fight for our money and all the other poor people who have lost theirs to this greedy company.’ 

FEMAIL has reached out to Botleigh Grange for comment. Leonard Curtis Business Solutions became the administrators on January 13 and are now in charge of seeking a buyer.

The couple have already had their wedding favours printed with the date of their wedding

In a response to the current situation of the hotel, a spokesperson told ITV News: ‘Until its recent closure, the hotel was run by Addison Way Limited and generated sales for the year ending May 2019 of £1.78m, excluding VAT. However, trading was affected by some negative press, recently reporting on health and safety issues at the hotel and spa.

‘The independent hotel, which is a former country house constructed in the 17th Century, is being sold by the Joint Administrators through the commercial property consultants Lambert Smith Hampton in Southampton. 

‘A number of parties have expressed an interest in the property as they see the potential to grow and generate revenue from a range of income streams such as accommodation, food and drink, conference and banqueting, leisure and spa breaks.’

Neil Bennett, director of Leonard Curtis Business Solutions, said: ‘We aim to conclude the sale of Botleigh Grange to a buyer that will be in a position to reopen the hotel in a short timeframe. 

‘The property has attracted a high level of interest, and a potential buyer will be exploring the possibility of honouring the future events booked at the hotel.’

To donate to Sasha and Fraser’s wedding fund, click here.

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