Several couples’ weddings are reportedly being upended by Alex Murdaugh’s ongoing murder trial, which is currently being held across the street from a small-town South Carolina venue housing the processions.
Compounding the issue is the fact that the multipurpose Waterboro event hall – set 45 miles from Charleston – is being used as a makeshift media center, where dozens of journalists have convened.
Among those to raise concerns this week was Ashlyn DeLong, who has claimed staffers at the Walterboro Wildlife Center did not notify her about the arrangement ahead of her wedding to fiancé Josh.
Slated for 5pm Saturday, the wedding has been in the works for more than a year, said Delong, but is now at risk of being hampered, just as another had been on Thursday.
Couples’ weddings are reportedly being upstaged by Alex Murdaguh’s ongoing murder trial, currently being held across the street from this small-town South Carolina venue
Among those to raise concerns this week over the arrangement was Ashlyn DeLong, who has claimed staffers at the center did not notify her about the trial ahead of her wedding to fiancé Josh
The couple’s complaints, aired this week to The Daily Beast, come as the small South Carolina town of roughly 5,000 has been largely overrun by members of the media tasked with covering the high-profile case.
Murdaugh, once a prominent attorney in the area, faces 30 years in prison for the June 2021 murders of his wife and son if convicted, with the trial expected to persist for the next several weeks.
Speaking to The Beast, Delong, 28, said that she and her soon-to-be husband had not been made aware that the venue volunteered itself to house the journalists, nor were they notified of the venue’s proximity to Colleton County Courthouse, situated directly across the street.
‘I couldn’t believe it,’ DeLong told publication shortly after the Murdaugh trial kicked off Monday, adding, ‘I did know about the courthouse being across the street.’
DeLong, who, like her 33-year-old fiancé, is from the area, went on to recall how she had come to choose the event hall for the pair’s big day, due to its stellar reputation and central location in the small town.
‘It was one of my top choices,’ she said. ‘It was more convenient due to the weather and location in town.’
Compounding the issue is the fact that the multipurpose Waterboro event hall is being used as a makeshift media center, where dozens of journalists have convened
However, after seeing a Facebook post from city officials last month that besieged food truck vendors to travel to the courthouse in anticipation of the trial, DeLong said she ‘instantly got concerned.’
Familiar with the town’s geography, the bride-to-be said that that disquiet stemmed from the fact that ‘food trucks would be set up in the public parking lot’ directly next to the Walterboro Wildlife Center.
At the time, DeLong recalled how she immediately thought how she and her fiancé ‘would need that space for our guests.’
Anxious over the realization, DeLong said she immediately reached out to the Walterboro Wildlife Center – a multipurpose venue that doubles as a museum showing off the region’s native wildlife – to air her concerns.
The couple’s complaints, aired this week to The Daily Beast, come as the small South Carolina town of roughly 5,000 has been largely overrun by members of the media tasked with the trial, which could see South Carolina legal scion Alex Murdaugh (pictured) put away for 30 years
It was only after speaking with staffers at the center, the South Carolina woman said, that she learned of the trial, and that she would be competing for space not only with several food trucks, but scores of reporters and lawyers called to the town.
‘I basically had to figure it out for myself,’ the future wife told the Beast.
She went on to describe how it’s been a ‘circus’ trying to figure out how her vendors and guests should enter and exit the venue amid the outflow of foot and car traffic across the street.
DeLong added: ‘I had been super excited and now I am pretty stressed out. Everything has been surprisingly smooth planning-wise until this. This has been my trying moment throughout the entire process.’
The woman described how it’s been a ‘circus’ trying to figure out how her vendors and guests should enter and exit the venue amid the outflow of foot and car traffic across the street
Delong complains that she and her soon-to-be husband had not been made aware that the venue volunteered itself to house the journalists, nor were they notified of the venue’s proximity to Colleton County Courthouse (pictured)
After seeing a Facebook post from city officials last month that besieged food truck vendors to travel to the courthouse in anticipation of the trial, DeLong said she ‘instantly got concerned’
While court will not be in session for the couple’s big day on Saturday, she said that the presence of the press can still be felt, and is incensed over the venue and town’s decision not to notify her about the situation until the 11th hour, only after being asked.
That said, the couple is not the only pair whose celebrations have been interrupted by the procession of press that has plagued the town, with another bride and groom whose nuptials were on Thursday – Day 4 of the bombastic trial – forced to share the venue with journalists.
Social media posts show that the couple had been much more open to the unusual arrangement than DeLong and her partner, going as far as to offer members of the press leftover cake and food from their own ceremony.
Another unspecified event is also scheduled to be held in the coming days during Murdaugh’s double homicide trial.
Social media posts show that the couple had been much more open to the unusual arrangement than DeLong and her partner, going as far as to offer members of the press leftover cake and food from their own ceremony
Walterboro’s tourism Director Scott Grooms, meanwhile, asserted earlier this week that the town has taken steps to ensure that all three events t will not be impacted by the trial – despite the venue’s arrangement with journalists and it being set directly across the street.
‘Nobody attending any of these events should see reporters at all, because they are in a completely different part of the building,’ Grooms told The Beast.
He added that reporters are being guided from the event space downstairs to a separate entrance at the front of the facility, which also features an outdoor amphitheater.
‘There are other venues, but we can’t move the media six miles away from the trial.’
DailyMail.com has reached out to the Walterboro Wildlife Center for comment.
Murdaugh, once a prominent attorney in the area, faces 30 years in prison for the June 2021 murders of his wife and son if convicted, with the trial expected to persist for several weeks
