Same sex couple disturbed with last minute venue cancelation

MARTINSBURG, Pa. (WTAJ) — A Blair County couple felt distraught after their original wedding venue cancelled on them 12 days from their wedding date due to their sexual orientation.

Clare Black and Morgan Hall were looking forward to Sept. 7th as the best day of their lives. The couple had everything set up at Piney Creek Greenhouse off of Sportsman Rd. in Martinsburg.

The soon-to-be newlyweds heard from one of their caterers that the location recently offered a wedding day venue. Once they toured it, they found everything to be perfect.

"It was beautiful and it aligned with all the things that we wanted for our wedding," Clare Black, one of the brides and a local to Martinsburg said. "So that's how we ended up actually picking that venue."

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Their love for plants and nature, along with the outdoor pavilion, helped make their decision easier.

"We were trying to be sustainable as possible with our wedding and not get into the overconsumption of what a wedding can be," Black added. "Just seeing that they already had everything there for us was like a really big selling point."

The couple visited multiple times, stating that the owners were reassuring the wedding would happen, which led to them paying in full. However, things would take a turn for the worst.

On August 26, just two weeks out from their wedding day, the couple went to get the floral arrangements settled with the owner's wife. According the the couple, the wife hesitantly asked if they were a same sex couple, to which they responded with a yes.

The wife cancelled the flowers, and the couple left discouraged. They got a hold of the owner and was told that he did not recall them being a same sex couple and had to find a different venue to have their wedding.

"My feelings were hurt," Black said. "I was very upset. Morgan handled it. He did get us a refund...and I haven't heard from him since."

The stress built up with the wedding day right around the corner, yet no venue to hold it at. But, they had a community to back them up.

Friends and the other vendors worked to find the brides a new venue for the same day. After five hours of searching, they landed on Hundred Wood Hollow Farm in East Freedom to hold their special day.

"He said he had a cancellation a few months back," Black said. "So that date was open and it worked out very well."

With the wedding back to schedule, it added a breath of fresh air to the Blacks. However, the wound from the cancellation was still fresh in the minds of the brides.

"It really makes you question a lot about yourself," Morgan Hall, the bride to Black said. "It hurts you as a person. Your sense of self kind of deteriorates, and it all adds up."

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The day went as planned at the new venue, with the couple saying "I do" and committing to each other forever. With the day behind them, they don't want to bash the original venue for their decision, but raise awareness for discrimination among the LGBTQ+ community.

"We want to make people aware that we as a community are still being discriminated against very openly," Black said. "We wanted to make it more aware that this is happening, and that there aren't any laws to protect us."

"We are still healing quite a bit," Hall added. "We've had a lot to talks with the ACLU, and we've been in contact with some other local organizations that can continue to bring awareness."

Now that the drama is past them, they look forward to forever. And through the trials of the chaos comes a light at the end of the tunnel.

"I really think facing this coming into our marriage was a testament to how strong our relationship is and will continue to grow," Hall said.

We reached out to Piney Creek Greenhouse for a statement. They refused to give us one.