{"id":177250,"date":"2026-03-04T03:38:15","date_gmt":"2026-03-04T03:38:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/177250\/"},"modified":"2026-03-04T03:38:15","modified_gmt":"2026-03-04T03:38:15","slug":"couples-left-scrambling-after-tampa-bay-area-wedding-venue-abruptly-closes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/177250\/","title":{"rendered":"Couples left scrambling after Tampa Bay Area wedding venue abruptly closes"},"content":{"rendered":"

DOVER, Fla. \u2014 Brides and grooms who booked a Tampa Bay Area wedding venue are trying to salvage their special days after learning the venue abruptly closed.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was just an emotional mess crying all morning,\u201d said Gabrielle Kreiger.<\/p>\n

WATCH: Couples left scrambling after Tampa Bay Area wedding venue abruptly closes<\/p>\n

Couples left scrambling after Tampa Bay Area wedding venue abruptly closes<\/p>\n

Kreiger was supposed to get married at Cross Creek Ranch in Dover on April 18.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis past Saturday, I had a meeting here with the florist to go over my final floral consultation, and they were setting up for a wedding, like everything was in full swing here,\u201d said Kreiger.<\/p>\n

Then came the notice no one expected.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe get the email 8 p.m. last night, which I didn\u2019t see until 5 a.m. this morning, stating that the venue was closed,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

A family shared with Tampa Bay 28 a copy of that email. It states, \u201cCross Creek Ranch has officially ceased operations and has closed permanently,\u201d citing circumstances beyond their control and changes within the industry.<\/p>\n

It goes on to say, “We explored every possible avenue to continue operations but ultimately were unable to sustain the business.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m about to be gone without any way of communicating with my phone or internet for about a month, so I have two weeks before the wedding to essentially try to figure everything out,\u201d said Kreiger.<\/p>\n

Several brides and families shared similar stories with Tampa Bay 28.<\/p>\n

\u201cProbably the single worst thing you could do would be to send out a blanket email like that,\u201d said Tom Buck, who drove by the venue on Tuesday.<\/p>\n

\"email<\/p>\n

WFTS<\/p>\n

He said his daughter was set to get married at Cross Creek in 10 months.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou drove by here today. What were you hoping for?\u201d asked Tampa Bay 28 reporter Mary O\u2019Connell.<\/p>\n

\u201cTo be able to get in there and talk to someone face to face,\u201d replied Buck.<\/p>\n

Families are now scrambling. Another bride shared their wedding was canceled with 12 days notice.<\/p>\n

“They\u2019re out of time,\u201d said Buck. “They\u2019re 12 days out, 15 days out. I don\u2019t know how someone can do that in good conscience and not even think it deserves a phone call.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"pic<\/p>\n

WFTS<\/p>\n

The email to customers encouraged people to contact their wedding insurance provider to start the claims process.<\/p>\n

Kreiger said other venues and vendors have been coming together trying to help impacted brides.<\/p>\n

At the end of the day, families said they\u2019re looking for accountability for what was supposed to be one of the biggest days of their lives.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis has been a year in the making,\u201d said Kreiger. “The biggest concern is I paid $26,000. How am I going to get that money back? It\u2019s just, it’s heartbreaking.”<\/p>\n

Tampa Bay 28 reached out repeatedly to the venue for comment and is waiting to hear back.<\/p>\n

Share Your Story with Mary

Mary O\u2019Connell has a primary focus on education-related stories for Tampa Bay 28. But she also keeps an eye on public health concerns and the always-changing car insurance market. Reach out to Mary to share any of your questions or concerns.
.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Florida veteran served in Gulf War loses citizenship fight, fears deportation<\/p>\n

A Florida veteran who served in the U.S. Marines during the Persian Gulf War has lost his federal court case in his decade-long fight for U.S. citizenship \u2014 and now faces deportation to a country that may no longer claim him.<\/p>\n

Florida veteran served in Gulf War loses citizenship fight, fears deportation<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"DOVER, Fla. \u2014 Brides and grooms who booked a Tampa Bay Area wedding venue are trying to salvage…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":177251,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[205,8136,83781,83782,276,135,3670,83783,137,136,83784,208],"class_list":{"0":"post-177250","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-tampa","8":"tag-abc-action-news","9":"tag-cross-creek-ranch","10":"tag-cross-creek-ranch-closes","11":"tag-dover-wedding-venue","12":"tag-hillsborough-county","13":"tag-tampa","14":"tag-tampa-bay-local-news","15":"tag-tampa-bay-wedding-venue","16":"tag-tampa-headlines","17":"tag-tampa-news","18":"tag-wedding-venue-closes","19":"tag-wfts"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/177250","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=177250"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/177250\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/177251"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=177250"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=177250"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=177250"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}