The parents of a New York bride are suing a hotel and a wedding planner for millions of dollars for “destroying” their daughter’s wedding with a noise restriction on their nuptials.
Bride and groom, Matt and Jessica Alovis tied the knot at a lavish ceremony with 200 guests at the 1 Hotel Brooklyn Bridge on 18 September last year.
But a “severe” noise restriction on the premises meant the wedding party had to move off-site to another room for music and dancing which was “devastating” for the couple, according to the mother of the bride, Marjorie Newman.
She told the New York Post: “It was very, very devastating.
“This was supposed to be her night to shine and it was all taken away from her.”
Now Mrs Newman and her property developer husband Russell Newman have filed for $5m in damages at Brooklyn Supreme Court for “breach of contract” and “deceptive concealment of the sound restrictions” – naming the hotel and their wedding planner, The Real Housewives of Miami star Guerdy Abraira.
Mr Newman, founder and president of Newman properties, told the Post his daughter’s day turned to chaos with the room move.
“After about a half-hour into this, she was hysterical and crying,” he said. “This is not how she envisioned her dream wedding.”
The opulent wedding celebrations at the hotel included $150,000 on flowers and had been a year in the planning.
But after the reception began, the newlyweds discovered a rule restricting noise to a low decibel. The party was then moved to a small “dingy” room on the second floor of the building next door to carry on with music and dancing.
“There was nowhere to sit. There was not one flower in that room”, said Mrs Newman. “Most of the adults, besides our very good friends and family, left at this point because really no one had a clue of what was going on.”
According to Mr Newman, the noise restriction was due to residential condos housed in the building and had been passed at least three weeks before the wedding.
He said the hotel “never made us aware” of this restriction.
The legal claim states: “There were countless hours spent over at least a one year planning period for what should have been a once in a lifetime special event which was single handedly destroyed by the egregious actions of the defendants.”
Both the hotel and wedding planner Ms Abraira have been contacted by i regarding the claim.
