Bride-to-be can’t get deposit back after Colorado Springs wedding venue closes without warning

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (KKTV) - Planning your wedding is stressful enough. Learning months ahead of your big day the venue you already put a deposit on is closed for good without warning makes it just that much more stressful.

The bride-to-be is stuck without her deposit, unable to pay for another venue. She called us for help, and 11 Call For Action investigator Matt Kroschel got to work.

Now after weeks of no responses from the former venue’s owner, he’s calling her back, promising to pay her back -- but only after we started asking questions.

“I’m getting married.”

One way or another, Rianne Gurnsey will tie the knot. But she is left empty-handed right now after the people she paid an $1,800 deposit back in November of last year closed their doors and kept her money.

“It is very stressful throughout the whole process. I’ve been doing it all by myself, all of my money savings.”

The Acme Bar and Grill inside the Farm Complex closed down, leaving this bride-to-be stuck with no venue.

Kroschel: “Do you have a venue now?

Gurnsey: “No, I don’t. I’m out of money.”

She went on:

“I found out a couple months ago that they closed down, and I was like, ‘What?’ And they didn’t have any contact with me. They had my phone number; they could’ve reached out to me any point to say, ‘Hey, we’re going into bankruptcy’ -- anything.”

But they never called back with an update on paying her deposit back.

“That was my savings. I worked really hard for it.”

Kroschel: “Did they say here’s your deposit back?

Gurnsey: “No, they got really nasty with me, and they said I couldn’t have my money back and that they didn’t have it.”

Kroschel tracked the owner down. He didn’t want to talk about this on camera, but over the phone said he is broke, going through bankruptcy proceedings, and couldn’t pay the deposit back.

“I started panicking. I am out of that money now,” Gurnsey said.

The now-closed bar and grill’s former wedding planner did offer Gurnsey to move to another venue under a tent out in rural Calhan.

“I didn’t want to. It is too far for my family. I have grandparents that can’t really get out much. It is hard to go to Calhan,” she told Kroschel

After Kroschel called the owner, he reached out to Gurnsey over text message, offering up a payment plan to repay this deposit he wasn’t supposed to use in the first place.

“They said within 60 days they were going to give the full amount to me, and then I got a text the other day when I was at work saying they wanted to give $100 back each week.”

As of now, Gurnsey is still waiting for that money back and to find another venue for her dream wedding. Her warning to other people planning their weddings: double-check with your vendors on how they hold the deposit funds so you don’t end up stuck.

The owner of the now-closed Acme Bar claims this was the only deposit he hasn’t paid back, but if you are waiting on money back from this vendor, we want to hear from you. Shoot us an email. We will stay on top of this to see if those promised partial payments come through.

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