| Submit your comments on this article |
| Britain |
| Couple's wedding clashes with Muslim fun day |
| 2006-07-12 |
| A couple's plans for a £5,000 wedding at Alton Towers were thrown into confusion yesterday after it emerged that the theme park had double booked them with a fun day for 20,000 Muslims. Amanda Morris, 30, and her fiance, Scott Lee, 31, have been told that if they go ahead with the ceremony they will not be allowed to go on celebratory rides together. Furthermore, Miss Morris and her female guests will have to cover up to be in line with guests of Islamic Leisure wearing hijabs. "I've been looking forward to this day for 18 months, and suddenly it's in ruins," she said yesterday. "Everything was booked - the photographer, the hotel rooms, everything. Then some of our guests started getting letters saying they would have to cover up because it was a Muslim event. "Alton Towers haven't even had the decency to let us know they had hired it out. It's not the Muslim event - it's not their fault that Alton Towers have double booked. "The people with Islamic Leisure want their day as much as we do. I don't blame them at all. But Alton Towers shouldn't have done this. They should at least have rung us to discuss it." Miss Morris, a recruitment sales advisor, and her fiance, a market trader, booked their wedding in the Emperor's Suite last year. The bride-to-be said: "It's a nightmare. We have been planning this for so long and now this happens nine weeks before the ceremony. "People are ringing us saying it must be a joke. I don't know what we are going to do now. I would still like the wedding to go ahead, but I just don't know how it will all work out. I'll be gutted if I have to cancel it now." The couple, who live in Leeds, chose Alton Towers as the venue for their wedding because they have previously enjoyed staying in the complex's hotel. At the time they made the booking the only date available was Saturday, Sept 16. They were happy to accept it, believing that they and the 60 guests for whom they had booked 20 rooms would be able to enjoy the following day on the rides. Since then, however, Alton Towers have hired out the complex for its first Muslim fun day. Believing that they and their own guests had the complex almost to themselves, Islamic Leisure drew up a list of requirements. These included the provision of prayer areas and bans on music, alcohol and gambling. In the Muslim tradition, women would also need to cover their bodies, as well as going on rides separately to their menfolk. The couple have since contacted Islamic Leisure, whose staff confirmed that the wedding party would be asked to adhere to their conditions. Yaseen Patel, the organisation's director, confirmed: "The body will have to be covered, (though) they do not have to wear the hijab." An Alton Towers spokesman said staff would be discussing "the options available" with the couple. She claimed it was a condition of the Islamic Leisure booking that wedding and hotel guests would be exempt from the Muslim dress code. |
| Posted by:ryuge |
| #19 perhaps a boycott is in order? and protests? Corporations LOVE that |
| Posted by: Frank G 2006-07-12 22:47 |
| #18 --The couple have since contacted Islamic Leisure, whose staff confirmed that the wedding party would be asked to adhere to their conditions.-- Wedding party was 1st - muzzies were 2nd, you asked, we declined. Tolerance - it's my wedding, you have to be tolerant. |
| Posted by: anonymous2u 2006-07-12 22:32 |
| #17 There were no amusement parks when mo was alive so they can't go on the rides. |
| Posted by: anonymous2u 2006-07-12 22:29 |
| #16 I'd go ahead and go, but dress as scantily as I could. And, I'm male, lol! On a serious note...if the wedding goes on as proceeded, she does NOT have to abide by their rules. PERIOD. Does make me wonder if there will be gun sex allowed though, as celebration for the wedding. |
| Posted by: BA 2006-07-12 15:31 |
| #15 Muslims + wedding ceremony normally equals an airstrike. |
| Posted by: Steve 2006-07-12 15:17 |
| #14 Sounds like a breach of contract to me. Time to fire-up those lawyers and get those billable hours running hot! |
| Posted by: CrazyFool 2006-07-12 14:21 |
| #13 Imagine having a wedding with all the fleeing goats around. |
| Posted by: DoDo 2006-07-12 14:08 |
| #12 Nimble: The difference is that someone would be paying for my ticket and as a condition of them paying for me, I would wear their stupid Mickey Mouse ears. I doubt that the Islamic Fun group is paying for the wedding party. And besides, I would assume that I would be told before I committed anything that the Mickey Mouse ears were part of the deal, not after I was halfway to Disney World with the family and already paid. |
| Posted by: gorb 2006-07-12 13:49 |
| #11 Ears to be worn outside the burka. |
| Posted by: Howard UK 2006-07-12 13:45 |
| #10 If somebody wants to buy out Disneyland for a day and say everybody has to wear Mickey Mouse Ears, it's OK with me. How's a Burka different from Mickey Mouse Ears? |
| Posted by: Nimble Spemble 2006-07-12 13:40 |
| #9 Why do non-muslims have to adhere to Islamic rules? Shouldn't these rules only apply to muslims? |
| Posted by: gorb 2006-07-12 13:37 |
| #8 At least AT won't be full of drunken scratters and you might get a decent curry. |
| Posted by: Howard UK 2006-07-12 13:19 |
| #7 Muslim Fun Day? Sign me up for the Interactive IED Construction Jahid-Headband Badge, the "Babes In Burka's On Parade" show, and, of course, the Death To Infidels Kum-by-ah sing-along. |
| Posted by: OyVey 1 2006-07-12 12:01 |
| #6 Why would women have to cover up in England? Who would enforce this? Are they not cash paying customers also? |
| Posted by: bigjim-ky 2006-07-12 11:20 |
| #5 Alton Towers will probably decide this will be their last "islamic fun day". No bar sales. No income from gambling. The islamists will bring their own food and will not buy even that on the grounds. The bathrooms in the hotel rooms will be awash in filth and the rooms trashed by any islmaists who stay in them in the ususal "family group" of 23 to a room. Islamists don't tip either. Mind you, the eerie sight of black burka clad figures riding a silent roller coaster, like so many penguins on parade, might be worth sticking around to see for Miss Morris. |
| Posted by: Thinemp Whimble2412 2006-07-12 11:17 |
| #4 Money talks. |
| Posted by: ed 2006-07-12 10:52 |
| #3 YJCMTSU - This is WAY over the top. It's ENGLAND, not MECCA. Muslim Fun Day - my ass. Go have yor fun day in a mosque. Alton Towers - what absolute morons. |
| Posted by: Lone Ranger 2006-07-12 10:09 |
| #2 Muslim Fun Day. I can only imagine... |
| Posted by: tu3031 2006-07-12 09:11 |
| #1 sounds like breach of contract or discrimination to me. Heh! Amanda, get a good lawyer - all that lawsuit money should help you get over it. |
| Posted by: 2b 2006-07-12 09:08 |