A real estate developer who blew $2million on an Aspen mountain wedding for his daughter likened the day to Pearl Harbor because of a faulty soundsystem.
Real estate mogul Craig Spencer, 62, and his wife Barbara, 63, are suing Alchemy Concert Systems for its alleged role in the ‘horrific wedding nightmare’ endured by his daughter Arielle Spencer, 33, and her husband Caleb Lodge.
The couple, who live in a $14 million Philadelphia mansion, branded the March 2022 nuptials branded ‘a day that will go down in infamy’. According to TMZ, the Arielle and Caleb have already split.
The Spencers’ incandescent words echo the famous remark made by President Franklin D. Roosevelt following the 1941 Japanese attack on a Hawaiian naval base, which killed 68.
Real estate mogul Craig Spencer (left) spent a cool $2million on a snowy mountain wedding for his daughter, but has now likened the day to Pearl Harbor
Arielle’s parents Craig and Barbara – who filed the lawsuit – are pictured on their daughter’s wedding day
Craig and Barbara were outraged that Alchemy’s alleged blunders stopped a 12-piece band he’d flown in from LA from playing.
And Craig, who’s CEO of the Arden Group property development fund, was further incensed that the issues cut short a performance by rapper Nelly, after delays snowballed over the course of the evening.
Footage shared on Instagram showed the rapper serenading the newlyweds with his 2002 hit Dilemma during his truncated set.
Spencer alleges in legal filings that Alchemy’s sound system malfunction before the wedding spiraled into a series of issues that ‘essentially ruined the wedding’.
The wedding of Spencer and Lodge ran into trouble when the sound system installed by Alchemy at the Little Nell resort proved faulty.
That forced celebrity wedding planner Mindy Weiss – whose past clients have included Paris Hilton, Justin Bieber and Ellen DeGeneres – to push the schedule back.
Scroll through to the fifth image to watch Nelly serenade the couple
The lavish wedding included a gondola ride, a 12-piece band flown in from Los Angeles and a private performance by rapper Nelly (pictured left)
Arielle Spencer and Caleb Hodge, (pictured) who are reportedly already divorcing , wed at the Little Nell resort in Aspen in March
Arielle is pictured second from left with her friends on her wedding day
The stunning bride is pictured being carried through the venue as part of her traditional Jewish nuptials – but behind the smiles, problems were brewing
Caleb and Arielle are pictured skiing together in Colorado. TMZ reported earlier this year that they’ve already split, despite only tying the knot in March 2022
The couple are pictured together before their alleged split. News of an impending divorce came just a year after their nuptials
Weiss, who collected $100,000 to oversee the nuptials, moved the guests’ 5:30pm gondola ride up Aspen Mountain back an hour, which moved the 6:30 pm wedding to 7pm.
This had the knock-on effect of shortening the cocktail hour and moving the bride and groom’s entrance from 8:20pm to 9:15pm.
‘When the bride and groom entered the reception, instead of the 12-piece band flown in from Los Angeles to perform for guests, there was no music other than a DJ playing music through a single, barely audible speaker,’ the lawsuit reads.
The band ‘fidgeted around on stage, cursing and looking frustrated,’ technicians tried and failed to fix Alchemy’s equipment, ‘making guests feel awkward and uncomfortable.’
The delays also meant dinner was pushed back an hour and the food was cold ‘and the time between courses severely condensed.’
Nelly then began his performance 50 minutes late, and had to shorten his set as events on the mountain must end before 1am.
The Spencers are suing Alchemy, who they say they paid $80,000, for breach of contract, negligence and unjust enrichment.
The couple are also suing Weiss, claiming that she was overbooked and underprepared which contributed to the disappointing day.
The luxury Little Nell resort in Aspen, Colorado describes itself as ‘Aspen’s only Five-Star, Five-Diamond hotel’
The Spencers allege that delays and a broken sound system ruined the bridge and groom’s entrance
The couple claim that Weiss doubled their costs from the budgeted $1 million and only told them of the added expense shortly before the wedding
Battleships West Virginia and Tennessee burning after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, 7th December 1941
The Spencers live in a $14 million mansion in suburban Philadelphia, pictured
They also claim that Weiss doubled their costs from the budgeted $1 million and only told them of the added expense shortly before the wedding, TMZ reported.
The $1 million lawsuit against Weiss, which is separate to the Alchemy filing, alleges that Weiss ruined the traditional Jewish ceremony of the hora.
That sees wedding guests lift up the bride, groom and their parents on chairs and bob them around to traditional Jewish music.
The suit alleges that Weiss was warned the chairs in the reception room were much too heavy and should be replaced with lighter ones but she chose not to take this advice.
The hora was therefore shortened and the father of the bride didn’t get to take part.
A wedding registry for the couple includes a $1,315 Baccarat whiskey decanter, a $429.79 goose down comforter, a $1,299 Weber gas grill, and a $419.99 Viking roasting dish.
