By: David Hess
A dream wedding became a living nightmare for recent New York City newlyweds. The New York Post reports that the Pier 1 Hotel in Brooklyn said that the noise restriction, due to residential condos housed in the building, had been passed at least three weeks before the wedding and the hotel “never made us aware,” the father of the bride said. The couple, Jessica and Matt Alovis, according to The New York Post, “learned after the reception began that a rule restricted audio to a “woefully low” decibel level that attendees could barely hear, according to the $5M suit filed last Monday in Brooklyn Supreme Court.
The music-shushing disaster spoiled the couple’s first dance and — after a DJ refused to turn up the tunes — relegated guests to a small, dark room on the second floor of a building next door, according to the Newmans, who are suing the hotel and their wedding planner, “The Real Housewives of Miami” star Guerdy Abraira.”
“They never brought us in to say, ‘This is what it is going to sound like or not sound like,’ they never gave us the opportunity to move the venue,” he said. The family is demanding $5 million for the “destroyed” wedding caused by a “breach of contract” and the “deceptive concealment of the sound restrictions,” according to the lawsuit, which also asserts “infliction of emotional distress.” The New York Post has reported that the lawsuit states that “there were countless hours spent over at least a one year planning period for what should have been a once in a lifetime special event which was single handily destroyed by the egregious actions of the defendants.”
Sanford Rubenstein, a lawyer for the family, chalked it up to greed. “To turn a beautiful dream into a nightmare and spoil one of the most important days in a girl’s life — her wedding day — in my opinion is an example of corporate greed.”
Another unfortunate aspect of the event was that being forced to move to the smaller event space in order to have music, elderly and disabled guests were not able to attend as that space was not handicapped accessible. According to The New York Post, “There was nowhere to sit. There was not one flower in that room. Most of the adults, besides our very good friends and family, left at this point because really no one had a clue of what was going on,” said Marjorie Newman — adding that her blushing-bride daughter couldn’t even “throw the bouquet” after months of tireless planning. The abrupt relocation interrupted the flow of festivities, confused guests and prevented less-mobile seniors from attending, she said.”
