Deauville Hotel Management, LLC, Etc. v. Ward

“Chapel of Love,” the tune made famous by the Dixie Cups, celebrates how a couple’s wedding day should feel like “Spring is here, the sky is blue/Birds all sing as if they knew ... Bells will ring, the sun will shine, I’ll be his and he’ll be mine.” The Dixie Cups, Chapel of Love (Red Bird Records 1964). The birds, however, did not sing and the bells did not ring on Kemesia Boota Ward’s wedding day. The hotel ballroom where she planned to have her wedding reception was closed by the city of Miami Beach, and the hotel moved the reception to its lobby. Ward’s wedding day was “ruined,” a “public…