Stock images of a bride and groom and a coffee.Photo:Getty
Getty
An Indianapolis couple created quite a stir when they staged a “pop-up” New Year’s Eve wedding for themselves at a small local coffee shop — without even asking the owners' permission.
The owners of Mansion Society in Hawthorne recounted the incident — which put a serious crimp in their ability to serve their regular customers on a busy holiday — in anInstagram post.
“Today 1/31 we had an odd eventful day at Mansion that we feel we need to share. As most you know we’re a small-owned business and do our best to provide the best service to all,” the message began.
“Today while our staff was expecting a normal Sunday, we noticed a downpour of patrons walking in,” the post continued.
Within minutes, Mansion Society explained, their small space was crammed with “a full bridal and groomsmen party, a wedding officiant, wedding photographers and patrons” who “took over” the shop and left personal belongings, including gifts, coats and purses, scattered all over.
Then, the cause of the whirlwind activity became crystal clear as a bride entered the coffee shop and “proceeded to have a wedding ceremony with zero knowledge to us,” Mansion Society said.
Mansion Society said it debated posting about the incident but felt it was important to remind patrons “to please be considerate, mindful and consider booking for a private event, other than showing up and taking control of our small business with no notice or any sort of monetary prearrangement.”
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A stock image of a coffee shop.Getty
According to the second post, the bride saw the first post and made a $200 donation to Mansion Society for its trouble. The owners explained that while they await the $200, they have sent the bride an invoice. “Although we’re not expecting any sort of compensation from them [as] they don’t see themselves in the wrong in this situation,” they noted.
Mansion Society then addressed a question they received from a lot of their followers. When asked why they didn’t put a stop to the wedding or make the group leave, they explained that their shop is located next door to a popular wedding venue. Often, wedding attendees pop in for a coffee before or after a ceremony so they initially assumed that was the case with the NYE group.
They also noted that they were busy taking care of paying customers at the time and that “our shock froze us in the moment.”
In the post, the coffee shop included a clip of the pop-up wedding and a lengthy message they sent to the bride, requesting that she pay their normal weekend rental fee of $500.
“Without asking, consideration and zero care to those patrons around you or us, you proceeded to have a wedding with a group of at least 20 people,” the owners told the bride, underscoring the disruption their unauthorized event caused. “Moving sofas, chairs, coffee tables, end tables, cushions, etc. Leaving our staff [to return] everything in its place.”
Mansion Society also expressed their frustration to the bride that she and her group also spent more than 20 minutes doing a photo shoot at the entrance to their business, blocking customers from entering.
“Your ‘donation’ doesn’t even meet minimum consumption requirements, our rental fee or a tip to the staff for having to work an event no one even knows would happen free of cost,” the owners concluded the post. “We wait for your response.”
source: people.com
