Dozens of brides have had their dream weddings in Tenerife ruined after losing thousands to a wedding planner who suddenly went bust.

The women had all paid Weddings in Tenerife SL, run by British national Claire Lopez, 48, to organise their nuptials on the Spanish island, with some handing over as much as £30,000.

But the wives-to-be were sent an email on Friday telling them the firm has now abruptly gone bankrupt, with little to none of the items paid for having ever actually been booked or purchased – leaving an estimated 20 couples’ ceremonies in jeopardy.

One woman and her partner, who wished to remain anonymous, had been set to marry in Tenerife next October, paying in instalments to afford their £29,000 wedding weekend.

As outlined in an invoice seen by the Daily Mail, the cost was set to essentially cover the whole day, including the venues, guest accommodation, decorations, photography, hair and makeup, food and drink, flowers, cake, DJ and more.

But despite having paid nearly £13,000 towards their total bill so far, the couple have since realised all their planner has done is paid just over £400 deposit for one of their venues – leaving the rest of their cash unaccounted for.

The bride told the Daily Mail: ‘We’re cancelling our wedding in Tenerife now because we’ve lost £13,000. We are just going to do a registry office ceremony here.

‘We can’t even think about planning another wedding right now because what’s happened is so awful.’

The women had all paid Weddings in Tenerife SL, run by British national Claire Lopez (pictured), 48, to organise their nuptials on the Spanish island, with some handing over as much as £30,000

But the firm has now abruptly gone bankrupt, with little to none of the items paid for having ever actually been booked or purchased – leaving an estimated 20 couples’ ceremonies in jeopardy. Pictured: A promotional image from the business’s now deleted website 

Ella Hudson (left), 22, and her partner Sam Tuck (right), 23, from Chatteris, Cambridgeshire, had been looking forward to their wedding day since they began dating aged 14

In a devastating twist, the couple chose to forgo IVF treatment to afford their nuptials – leaving them still struggling to conceive.

The pair had also used some of her inheritance from her father, who passed away suddenly from a pulmonary embolism in December 2022, to help fund the day.

‘I could have been pregnant by now and spent that £13,000 on IVF. Now I don’t have a wedding, nor do I have a baby,’ she said.

‘On Friday, I think I was more in shock. I just have not stopped crying since.’

The bride-to-be continued: ‘There’s nothing wrong with getting married in a registry office but it’s not the wedding I envisioned, it’s not what I’ve saved for.

‘We didn’t have to have this wedding but honestly, I’ve dreamt of this wedding since I was three years old. I am that woman that always wanted the big white wedding.’

She added: ‘We honestly feel like we cannot catch a break.

‘Life is throwing some s*** at us at the moment and that wedding was the one thing we were working towards and looking forward to.’

In an email from Weddings in Tenerife sent on Friday, which has been seen by the Daily Mail, couples were told the firm is set to file for insolvency ‘as soon as our lawyer has prepared the necessary documents’.

‘Once the court admits the filing, you will receive formal notification from the mercantil [sic] court with instructions for submitting claims,’ it continued.

‘We are no longer allowed to perform any activities regarding Weddings in Tenerife S.L, which means we will not be able to deliver any products or services for your wedding.

‘Even though it doesn’t offer any consolation, I still want to emphasise that we have done our utmost to avoid this situation, and that we are aware of the implications this will have for you. Unfortunately, there is nothing we can do about it.

‘I sincerely hope that you find the support needed to help with your wedding. Our deepest apologies.’

The bride immediately contacted the two venues she had paid to host her 120-person wedding – Amarilla Golf, where she was set to marry on the clifftop eighth hole, and on-site hotel The Club, which she had exclusive use of for a whole weekend, for the reception, drinks the day before, a pool party the day after, and guest accommodation.

But staff at the golf course told her they had only received the just over £400 deposit – and even worse, the hotel told her the dates had not even been confirmed and no money had been paid for the booking.

‘Where has the rest of my money gone?’ she said, in despair.

Company accounts show the firm appears to have had a drastic decline in fortunes within a single year, between 2023 and 2024. Pictured: A promotional image from the business’s now deleted website 

The pair (pictured) paid Ms Lopez a £16,000 bill to organise most aspects of their 50-person nuptials on June 6 this year, which is now just days away – but little of what they purchased has actually been booked 

Her bill had been set to cover essentially all services needed for the day, down to smaller details like a personalised celebrant speech and even golf buggies to transport guests across the course – but she has now been left with almost nothing to show for her cash.

She and the other brides affected have attempted to contact the firm, the website and social media pages of which have now been deleted – but have been met with radio silence.

It has been a complete shock, she said: ‘I really liked them. I really bought into them. My experience has been nothing but good with them.’

With thousands of followers online, countless Google reviews and backed up by several positive word-of-mouth accounts, the business appeared entirely legitimate, she said, having conducted extensive research into planners before choosing Ms Lopez in October 2024.

But with the planner discouraging the couple from purchasing wedding insurance – ‘she said, “You don’t need to because I have insurance”‘ – they have now been left with little recourse for the disruption to their big day.

Spanish police have said brides cannot report their experience in Tenerife unless they are on the island in person – so she is now facing a further outlay to fly out for this.

She also tried to lodge a complaint with her bank, which has said that as it is a civil dispute, it cannot help.

‘I don’t think I’m going to be getting any money back, in all honesty,’ she said.

She is in a WhatsApp group chat with around 20 other brides who have also been affected by the firm’s sudden insolvency.

Several couples with weddings in the days immediately after have taken out interest-free credit cards to salvage their days, she said – and suppliers on Tenerife have pulled together to help, with many offering discounted or free services to those affected.

But a host of questions remain, she said: ‘People have been to her offices in Tenerife, they’ve been to her house. She’s nowhere to be seen.’

Similarly, Ella Hudson, 22, and her partner Sam Tuck, 23, from Chatteris, Cambridgeshire, had been looking forward to their wedding day since they began dating aged 14.

The midwife and farmer have been determinedly saving ever since leaving school, using their hard-earned nest egg to buy their first house before setting their sights on tying the knot.

After the pair got engaged in September 2024, Ms Lopez was recommended to them by a family friend, who had used and loved her services around three years prior.

The pair brought her on as their planner the following January, paying a £16,000 bill to organise most aspects of their 50-person nuptials on June 6 this year – which is now just days away.

Charlie Mitchell (left), 39, and her fiancé Danny Williams (right), 42, from Northwich, Cheshire, have been left in a similar position ahead of their wedding in September this year

Ms Hudson said they have had a very positive experience so far: ‘We’d message her and it might take her a couple of hours to reply but she’d still reply to you the same day.

‘You’d say, “Claire, we want this”, and she’d say, “We can do that, that’s fine”. We used to have monthly Zoom calls with her. We seemed to get on so well.

‘She’d say, “I can’t wait for your wedding, it’s going to be amazing, we’ve already booked this, I’ve booked this, I’ve booked this, I’ve booked this”.

Ms Hudson had booked a package as comprehensive as the other bride’s, including the same venues, along with services like food, drink, flowers, photography, hair and makeup, and more.

But from this list of purchases, outlined in an invoice seen by the Daily Mail, only their reception venue, wedding meal restaurant, and the pool area have actually been booked.

‘Nothing’s been paid, literally nothing. It will be another £10,000 to actually try to afford everything again,’ she said.

‘All of our guests have paid so much money to come out to us. Some of them have never been abroad before as well.’

Ms Hudson had just finished a night shift at the hospital when she found out about the firm’s insolvency – which left her unable to sleep for stress, staying awake for nearly 40 hours.

‘How can I sleep after getting that news?’ she said.

‘I was already shattered, I was literally exhausted, I just thought, “What the actual hell just happened?” My heart just broke into pieces. I just couldn’t even believe it.’

Ms Hudson and her fiancé have done what they can, with help from friends, to rebook suppliers for their wedding day themselves, forking out more money to get the day back on track – but their stress remains.

‘Our wedding can be fine again but now we’re going to be in debt for the next five years trying to pay off all this money. It’s just ridiculous,’ she said.

Charlie Mitchell, 39, and her fiancé Danny Williams, 42, from Northwich, Cheshire, have been left in a similar position ahead of their wedding in September this year.

The EU customs entry clerk and credit controller started working with Ms Lopez in September 2023, after getting engaged in Easter 2019.

‘She seemed a very genuine person who really cared about making our day what it should be for us and we were very happy to have her onboard,’ she said.

‘So, for that email to come along on Friday was obviously heartbreaking and shocking because we never expected that this would come.’

The couple handed around £3,000 to the planner to organise most aspects of their 18-person celebration, with a ceremony at Papagayo Beach Club in Playa de las Américas and a reception at the SkyBar in Costa Adeje.

But the only service which has actually been paid for is an around £500 deposit for the former venue.

‘Everything was on course, as far as I was aware – that’s why the absolute shock and terror of that email falling out of the sky to me on Friday really hit me because I didn’t have any red flags,’ said Ms Mitchell, who was left in ‘lots of tears and shakes’ after receiving the news.

‘My dad passed away in 2018 and it was his wish that they’d pay for my wedding so it’s quite a sensitive thing. It’s brought up so many emotions. Since Friday, I just keep feeling so hurt.’

The couple decided to start planning several years in advance to save money and reduce stress – but their efforts have now gone to waste, as they face having to rebook nearly everything.

‘It is probably going to cost double what it was because obviously things have gone up in price and that’s obviously why we were getting things booked so early on,’ Ms Mitchell said.

The Weddings in Tenerife SL business was set up in February 2023, though brides have reported her trading for around a decade – it is possible to do so without a company.

Claire Lopez was listed as co-director of the firm, which is registered to a modest residential property in Arona, southern Tenerife, under her maiden name, Claire Oxenham, in 2023.

Her partner, Dutch national Lars Jensen, is named as her co-director that year – but by 2024, she is listed as the sole director.

Jensen is also operating a tapas restaurant, called Tapas Y Ole, in Los Cristianos, Tenerife, under the Weddings in Tenerife SL company.

The business’s stated purposes are wide-ranging, covering, among other activities, restaurant and event management, real estate acquisition and the import and export of food, drink and clothes.

Company accounts show the firm appears to have had a drastic decline in fortunes within a single year, between 2023 and 2024. Accounts for 2025 are not due yet.

Turnover in 2023 was €505,518.32, with a profit of €10,347.82. The following year, turnover rose to €864,840.37 – but the firm actually made a loss, of €8,679.69.

Similarly, the business’s assets were valued at €619,478.72 in 2023 – but fell dramatically in 2024, to €204,563.72.

The main reason for this dramatic transformation within a single year appears to be that by 2024, the company owed a whopping €242,903.62 to customers – a major sign of decline.

By contrast, in 2023, circumstances had been the complete reverse, with customers instead owing the company, to the tune of a staggering €540,904.61.

The business’s costs also rose enormously within the same one-year period, skyrocketing from €494,858.91 in 2023, to reach the dizzying heights of €872,822.84 in 2024.

In an email from Weddings in Tenerife sent on Friday, couples were told the firm is set to file for insolvency ‘as soon as our lawyer has prepared the necessary documents’. Pictured: A promotional image from the business’s now deleted website 

Ms Lopez, who was born in Devon, is also listed as sole director of a separate firm called Tenerife Package Holidays SL, and was appointed in June 2022.

She is also listed as director of a firm called Tenerife Package Holidays SL, where she was appointed sole director in June 2022. Its stated purposes are wide-ranging.

The business last filed accounts in 2023 – which means its 2024 accounts are late.

Ms Lopez and Spanish police have been contacted for comment.