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Restaurants save the day after wedding caterer no-show

Angela FergusonNorth West
News imageUnveil by Hollie A man with short brown hair and a beard and wearing a white shirt, black waistcoat and black trousers is smiling as he stands next to a woman with long brown hair which is tied up and a long white wedding dress with veil. She is holding a bunch of yellow and pink flowers. They appear to be standing outside a venue.Unveil by Hollie
Matt and Kate Dean had to hastily source catering after the firm they had booked let them down

A couple have praised staff at three restaurants which 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 Monday, 13 July.

They decided to organise a special celebration for family and friends at Lost and Found Ormskirk on Sunday 19 July and were looking forward to the food arriving.

They arrived at the venue two hours ahead of time to get it ready for 14:00 BST but when time was ticking on - with no sign of the caterers - their concern grew.

Kate said 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 - she quickly hatched a backup plan.

"I'm quite a laid back person anyway, so I was sort of like 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 it got to 14:10 and people started coming in she thought about local venues with nice food, "I just... turned to Matt's family, and I said, 'if I can sort this, is everybody okay?'"

News imageUnveil by Hollie A woman with long brown hair and a floral sleeveless dress has her hand raised and held in front of the left side of her face as she smiles while talking to her friend. She is holding a drink in a glass. Her friend has long blonde hair and an orange strappy dress and is looking at her and smiling.Unveil by Hollie
Kate was captured smiling with relief here with her best friend Jade Foley, right, when she saw a "tower of pizza boxes" being carried through the door by restaurant staff

The 32-year-old, who is a nail technician, said they had been planning their wedding since September 2025, after postman Matt, 36, proposed in December 2022.

She said she and Matt approached the teams at Piri Piri Grill and also at Scoozi Pizza and Pasta in Ormskirk and were hugely relieved when they agreed to work as a team to help out.

Despite both restaurants being busy with the World Cup final being on that day, they insisted on closing to the public and devoting themselves to helping out the newlyweds, she added.

Kate said it was great to see "towers and towers of pizza boxes" which were "taller than Matt and he is 5ft 9ins (1.8m)".

Meanwhile, staff at the Lost and Found venue in Ormskirk were "more than accommodating" and "so helpful" in working to ensure the change of plan ran smoothly, she said.

Kate said the restaurant staff "were so amazing" and came back later on to check that everything was fine.

She said that despite having "ended up crying in the bathrooms" at one point, they could see the funny side to what happened as they looked back on the photos.

She said: "It ended up being quite funny to be honest with you - it was kind of like the wedding story".

Their children enjoyed "going around like little waiters with like four pizza boxes" with one saying "you ordered a pizza", she added.

News imageUnveil by Hollie A woman with long brown hair is smiling, while a little girl with dark blonde hair which is tied back is also smiling while sitting on her knee in a venue. A largely empty table with a white tablecloth covering it is behind them.Unveil by Hollie
Kate, pictured with her two-year-old daughter, says helpful staff at all three venues made it a wedding celebration to remember

Kate said she and Matt were grateful to family and friends for their support, including her best friend Jade Foley, who stepped in to pay a deposit for the hastily arranged new catering.

She said she turned her phone off later on her wedding day to try to switch off but, when she turned it back on the following day, she had many missed messages and calls from the catering business owner.

They had apologised for what happened, returned their money and explained that the no-show was due to an issue on the day that was beyond their control.

Kate said that, as a fellow business owner, she did not wish to name the firm as she understood that such things could happen did not want them criticised on social media.

News imageUnveil by Hollie A woman with long brown hair and a floral dress is smiling as she holds a little girl with a pink dress with a heart pattern. The little girl has dark blonde hair which is tied back. A man is standing just behind the woman and smiling. He has short brown hair and a beard and is wearing a short sleeved white shirt. A boy with short brown hair is smiling. He is wearing a grey and white striped shirt.Unveil by Hollie
Kate, pictured with Matt and two of their children, wants people in similar situations to remember that "at the end of the day there are people like me on the other side [of businesses] and there might be a genuine reason as to why these things have happened"
News imageUnveil by Hollie A man with short brown hair and a beard and a white shirt is smiling while holding a pile of eight pizza boxes with a black and white chequered pattern on the sides.Unveil by Hollie
The couple were relieved to see a "tower of pizza boxes" and large servings of pasta brought to the venue by staff at nearby restaurants

Liam Goulding, manager of Lost and Found Ormskirk, said Kate and Matt were "fantastic" and they were "more than happy to help out on such a special day".

He said he was proud of his team, including fellow manager Abi Rose and employee Abbie Lemaire for all they did that day.

Foozi Pizza and Pasta declined to comment. The BBC has approached Piri Piri Grill.

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