Noise complaints cause wedding woes for couples

Noise complaints about a wedding venue's marquee have caused last-minute stress for couples who will see their evening dos moved indoors.

Dalston Hall near Carlisle, Cumbria, received an abatement notice from Cumberland Council due to noise complaints, meaning they had to limit the use of their marquee.

Jade Keiling and Nathaniel Lee, who are due to get married there in two weeks, only found out about the change of plans from a post on social media.

Dalston Hall said it had applied to the council more than a year ago to address noise complaints. The council said a decision had been deferred in light of new documents from the venue and for councillors to visit the site.

Miss Keiling, 30, and Mr Lee, 29, booked their wedding at Dalston Hall shortly after getting engaged in July 2023.

Their wedding celebrations were due to be held in the marquee, but when another bride-to-be posted on social media this week about restrictions to the use of the marquee, she found out her evening party would have to be moved indoors.

"I have been a bit stressed - I wasn't too happy," said Miss Keiling.

"It obviously can't be helped, it was just kind of a shock how I found out - my DJ tagged me on a post on Facebook, that's not the way to find out."

Miss Keiling and Mr Lee, who live in Carlisle, have since been able to speak to the venue and said staff reassured them another space would be made available and the event would run smoothly.

"If I had known months ago, I would have gone somewhere else, but there's nothing we can do now, at least it's not been cancelled," Miss Keiling said.

A spokeswoman for Gilchrist Collection, which owns Dalston Hall, said the venue had been frustrated with the lack of progress made with the council in addressing noise concerns from the marquee.

The group recently purchased the property and had plans to build a new marquee.

In the meantime, it requested to extend permission from the council to continue using the existing marquee, but the council is yet to make a decision a year on.

"We wanted a two-year extension so we could facilitate the bookings that we had, then we would have a closure period to build our new structure and everyone would be happy," said the spokeswoman.

She added the venue had appealed the council's abatement notice, which was triggered by neighbours' complaints.

The venue managers believe they have now complied with the requirement to reduce noise disturbance, by installing extra lining in the marquee, but until their appeal is heard by the courts in May, they have taken the decision to limit its use in the evenings.

"It's our mitigation, not the council's - the last thing we want is for anyone's wedding to be disturbed," added the spokeswoman.

Cumberland Council said the application was initially delayed when the venue told them about these mitigations, as they needed to give neighbours, among others, a chance to comment on the changes.

Although the application was then due to be discussed in January, a site visit was deemed necessary for councillors to better understand the issues and a decision was further delayed.

A council spokesman said: "Now that the consultation period has ended, an updated report will be reported back to a future planning committee."

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