
Last week, bride-to-be Rhiannen Skelley was feeling on cloud nine in the very last stages of planning her wedding.
But as the 26-year-old teacher sat down for dinner on Friday night with her fiancé Matthew John, a devastating email landed in her inbox: with only eight days to go, they were suddenly without a venue.
The iconic Melbourne mansion, The Willows, they’d booked two years ago had gone into liquidation and closed its doors.
“The email was so impersonal and didn’t have a phone number,” Ms Skelley told Mamamia.
“I had this sick, instant vomiting sensation in my stomach.
“It’s where we were going to have both our ceremony and reception. We were just in complete disbelief.”

Ms Skelley said until that point, there was no sign anything was amiss. She said she'd spent the week finalising table arrangements with staff and even made a payment to the venue.
She and her long-term partner are now $8000 out-of-pocket but have to find a new venue to hold 60 people. The couple has guests flying in from inter-state, so changing their June 30 wedding date is not option.
Ms Skelley said they'd be forced to draw from the savings they'd been squirrelling away to buy their first home.
"Our immediate shock turned into absolute anger," Ms Skelley said.
"Not only have I forked out for a venue and catering I'm never going to get, I've now got to pay for a new venue and catering. It boils your blood.
"It will absolutely play on my mind on the day and even on my honeymoon next week. But even if it's not a fairy tale plan, we will still make a fairy tale day."