Couple planned wedding at abandoned mansion – but it wasn’t abandoned

A Florida couple announced their dream wedding at a beautiful location – a mansion complete with a tennis court, pool, movie theatre and palatial gardens.

One problem: it’s not theirs, and the owner had no idea they were coming.

Courtney Wilson and Shenita Jones had invited a whole guest list of friends and family to their wedding at their “dream home and estate”, which was a house they did not own, nor forge any agreement to rent, located in the fancy Miami suburb of Southwest Ranches.

Currently, the 16,300 square foot mansion is on the market for $5.6 million and does not operate as a wedding venue.

On their wedding invitation, which is hosted on its own website, Wilson and Jones call themselves “the Royal couple” and state there will be a “red carpet cocktail hour” on Saturday, with a brunch on Sunday.

When Wilson arrived to begin set up, the homeowner Nathan Finkel was shocked.

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“I have people trespassing on my property,” he told a 911 dispatcher, reported by the South Florida Sun Sentinel.

“And they keep harassing me, calling me. They say they have a wedding here and it’s God’s message. I don’t know what’s going on. All I want is (for) it to stop. And they are sitting at my property right at the front gate right now.”

When the police arrived, they told Wilson to leave, and he did so.

“I don’t want to talk about it,” Wilson told the local Florida paper.

Keith Poliakoff, a lawyer, said Wilson had toured the property as an interested buyer.

“The guy figured it was a vacant house and didn’t realise Nathan lived on the property in a different home. This guy had no idea he lived there. You know the shock that must have been on his face when he showed up at the gate and the owner was home?”