Bride-To-Be Says Scaffolding At Park Slope Reception Building Casting Shadow On Picture Perfect Wedding Plans
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) -- Imagine getting engaged and finally booking the place of your dreams for the reception only to find out a giant eyesore may be standing in the way. That's precisely what Rachel McLennan and Brian McAllister said happened to them.
The couple dreamed of a beautiful wedding reception at the historic Montauk Club in Park Slope, Brooklyn. Featuring a grand staircase and columns, the building reeks of grandeur, but only if you can get past the scaffolding.
The situation, the couple said, was so alarming they changed the location to another place in the area.
"You walk out, you think people might throw flowers or rice or would blow bubbles or whatever it is and there's black and blue scaffolding," McLennan told CBS 2's Ann Mercogliano.
McLennan claims she did not know about the scaffolding when she booked her wedding. She said that she learned about it through an e-mail, just months before her October wedding date. She said her picture-perfect wedding plans are now in shambles.
"They should have let someone know and I signed my contracts not knowing any of this could even be possible," McLennan said. "To have something like this happen and then to spend so much money and not be able to get it back is really unfortunate."
Kevin Brooks, treasurer of the Montauk Club, said the venue didn't tell couples about the necessary improvements because they were unsure at the time contracts were signed when work would begin.
"It would be much, much nicer to not have scaffolding up, but it would be much worse to have the building or the balcony collapse," Brooks said.
Brooks went on to say that the building work was not something done to "injure somebody's wedding plans." He argued that it was simply a matter of safety.
"The balcony that is being repaired right now -- as we speak -- was not something that could be deferred," he said.
Those words seemed to be little consolation to McLennan. The Montauk Club offered a discount on catering, but several couples are said to be speaking with attorneys about possible lawsuits.
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