ENGLEWOOD, Colo. (KDVR) — A local family is completely stuck just months from both of their daughters’ weddings. They reached out to the Problem Solvers for help, saying the event planners who booked their venue, DJ and catering have gone silent — and the place for the parties no longer exists.
For the Galasso family, spring will be centered around their daughters’ love.
“We are blessed. We certainly weren’t expecting that both of our daughters would find the love of their lives at the same time and plan their weddings five weeks apart, but as a parent, what else can you ask for?” Tamie Galasso said.
The Galasso girls’ weddings are planned on two sentimental dates in April and May of this year. With the two days so close together, budget and early planning were top of mind, and they found an event planner that offered bundle packages.
“We found We Got This Event planners, and they were a lifesaver at the time,” Tamie said. “They sat us down, they listened to us and said they cared about our concerns, they wanted the girls to be happy, and they’d make sure nothing went wrong. We were able to knock out a wedding, two receptions, food, a DJ, bartenders, and then they even gave us a little bit of a discount for booking both, so we’re like, hey, this is fantastic, right?” Jason said.
Wedding planner stops responding
The Galassos said they signed a contract with We Got This Event last April, which booked the Castlewood Event Center venue for both daughters’ receptions.
Then, last month, the Galassos reached out to We Got This Event to schedule their open house at the venue.
“The next step is they’ll reach back out, and we get an open house. But fast forward to we hear nothing, no calls, no replies, no emails, no texts, nothing,” Jason said.
That’s when they googled the venue and learned it was sold in 2022 and is now a Sikh worship center.
The FOX31 Problem Solvers got a hold of Reece Wiggins with We Got This Events. He sent the following statement, in part:
“I am deeply stressed and regretful about this situation. I was under the impression that we would be able to finalize a few events that we had booked for 2023 at the location….We currently have a contract with both of her daughters regarding their wedding dates of 4-21-2023 for Haley Galasso and 5-27-2023 for Alyssa Galasso. Each contract has the event center, catering, and Disc Jockey included.
Unfortunately, since the venue has been sold, and it wasn’t negotiated in the sale for us to be able to use it to finalize those events, we can no longer offer that venue. We can, however, honor the catering, as well as the disc, jockey services, if the client would be willing to allow us to do such. We would do so at the current amount they have already paid in deposits/down payments If they find another venue that will allow outside services. That would save them a considerable amount of money, because the amount of money they have already paid, would definitely not cover getting catering and DJ for their estimated guest counts. We can, and will provide excellent catering services per our existing menu, and top Disc Jockey services for their event. This could be a viable option if they find A new event center. Both contracts still have around $4000 each remaining that would need to have been paid. If that money could be applied towards just getting a venue, there should be multiple options and some of those would probably be even nicer than the venue they already had booked for that price. We would be glad to get involved in attempting to find a viable venue for them.
Unfortunately, as we speak, we do not have the money to return to them. However, we are aggressively doing everything we can to acquire that, including selling personal items. I’m hopeful that can be accomplished very shortly. We have been calling the previous owners, as well as the new owners multiple times without response, to see if they would allow us to finalize these events and we’re willing to pay them the money that was still due to us on these contracts. We have however gotten no response. We were hoping to get permission to finalize these events as they were written.”
Reece Wiggins, We Got This Event
The Galassos now find themselves lost on where to find a new venue for their events coming up this spring, with the budget they had saved up for.
“If they had told us when they found out that they wouldn’t be able to host our event, that would have bought us six more months to try and find something,” Tamie said.
