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A Camrose couple's dream destination wedding has turned into more of a nightmare.
Rhys Herle and Ashley Thengs are set to be married on December 3, but just two weeks before their vows they still don’t know if the wedding is a go.
The pair say it’s the wedding they have been envisioning for five years, and paid a travel agent thousands of dollars for their plane tickets and accomodations last December. Now, they don’t know where that money went.
“Two weeks before a wedding you should all be planning the excursions you're going to be going on together, finishing shopping, whatever you gotta do. But now everyone is holding on to their pennies,” said Herle.
The couple were told to sit back and experience a “stress free wedding.” Then, things went from sky high to a complete nosedive.
On August 15 after every wedding guest had paid their deposits to travel agent Shez Khan, they found out that things were all but fine.
“On November 1 I called Sunwing because we were 30 days to our departure date, and I said where is our itineraries? And they said well your travel agent is 40 days late on payment.”
The couple says Khan took thousands from them and their guests, and then slowly started to drop contact with them.
“We have 29 guests and the cheapest room was 2,045 dollars. Everyone’s parents are stressed, everyone's cousins, friends of ours. And we have to answer for it,” said Herle.
Travel operator Sunwing says they received a minimal deposit, not a full payment.
When reached by CTV News Khan says she gave the money to MK-Voyages, a company she worked for that she says should have paid Sunwing directly.
MK-Voyages flat out denies those claims, saying they never received a cent from Khan and that she hasn’t been affiliated with their organization for months.
The incident is similar to one that occured in Saskatchewan earlier this month, involving Khan as well.
Herle says he has been in contact with both MK-Voyages and Sunwing, adding that until he sees proof otherwise he’s convinced that his money is all with Khan.
“You’re always stressed, you’re losing sleep. It’s not a good feeling, it doesn’t make you happy and you wonder how can somebody sleep at night knowing they put people in these situations.”
The young couple say they now are just waiting to see if their destination wedding, will have a destination at all.
With files from Timm Bruch
