Ormskirk restaurants save day after wedding catering no-show

A couple have praised staff at three restaurants that stepped in to save the day when they were let down by wedding caterers at the last minute.

Kate and Matt Dean from Skelmersdale, Lancashire, were preparing to celebrate their wedding with family and friends at a venue in Ormskirk when the caterers failed to turn up and they were unable to get in touch with them.

With guests starting to arrive, Kate said they decided to ask two local restaurants if they could help.

Kate said she first approached restaurant staff at Piri Piri Grill, saying: “Hi! I don’t suppose you can cook for 100 people?” and “he just went, ‘oh, when?’… and I went, ‘now'”.

The couple, who have four children aged two to 12 between them, were married at Ormskirk Register Office on 13 July.

They decided to organise a special celebration for family and friends at Lost and Found Ormskirk on Sunday and were looking forward to the food arriving.

They arrived at the venue two hours ahead of time to get it ready but when time was ticking on – with no sign of the caterers – their concern grew.

They tried to call and message the business but there was no response and despite initially feeling upset – including crying in the bathroom at one point – Kate quickly hatched a back-up plan.

“I’m quite a laid back person anyway, so I was in fire-fighting mode, like we have got all these people coming and no food, ‘what are we going to do?’,” she said.

Kate said when guests started arriving she thought about local venues she liked.

“I just turned to Matt’s family and said, ‘if I can sort this, is everybody OK?'”