A Parow couple says their dream wedding has been ruined after the wedding planner ran off with their money.
Justine Klaasse, 32, and her fiancé, Christopher Diedricks, 35, paid R37 000 to events company, Joie De Vivre for their wedding.
The couple is expected to tie the knot at the Joie de Vivre Country House in Klapmuts on 21 September, but are out of money and out of options.
They paid the money in January already after receiving banking details from Elzaan Heydenrych, the company’s events co-ordinator.
The company was owned by Scharmaine Newman, but has since been taken over by Jon Stoffberg, who is the landlord of Joie de Vivre, from where she ran the business.
Engaged couple Justine Klaasse and Christopher Diedricks.
On Sunday, Stoffberg said he had kicked Newman out after she failed to pay the rent.
He has now been left to deal with her clients who have already paid for their weddings, totalling R267 000.
He tells the Daily Voice: "In Justine's case money was paid into a personal bank account under S. Newman."
But Stoffberg says he can’t help any of them after a court found that he is not liable for any debt and transactions done by Newman.
A desperate Justine and Christopher say Newman has disappeared and if they don’t get their money back, they can’t get married.
They opened a case of fraud with police last week after Heydenrych, who is now employed by Stoffberg, emailed them to say their wedding has been cancelled.
The email reads: “The fact of the matter is that the money you paid to Scharmaine Newman has not been paid over to us and we cannot afford to do your or anybody else’s wedding, essentially at a severe loss to us.
“I must, therefore, inform you that unless you can recover the money from Ms Newman, or pay us an additional, negotiated amount to cover our costs, we will be unable to host your wedding, a fact that we deeply regret.”
A distraught Justine, who is a debt collector, says they have saved long for their dream wedding.
“We had paid the full amount of R37 000 in January and we have an outstanding amount of R930,” she explains.
“We wanted a small wedding of 70 people and we have spent about
R50 000 in total for the whole wedding which includes our dresses and flowers and other items. The R37 000 covered the venue, the food and the decor.”
DREAM TROUE IN TATTERS: The couple paid R37 000 for the Klapmuts venue. Picture: Facebook
She says they’ve only dealt with Heydenrych and never met Newman.
“We dealt with Elzaan and we paid money into a bank account with details provided by her.
“When my fiancé contacted Mr. Stoffberg to say that we will investigate the company, we received the email for cancellation.”
But Stoffberg says there is nothing more he can do for the couple.
“We have offered to give Justine the venue free of charge, with the food at cost (price) and the use of our staff, but her fiancé became abusive towards Elzaan. We have others looking for this lady (Newman) and if she pays the money then we can still do the weddings.”
The Daily Voice was unable to reach Newman, who did not answer her phone and ignored text messages.
Police confirmed a case of fraud is under investigation with no arrests yet.