- Blog
- Bios
- Boards
- Classifieds
- DIY
- Gallery
- Vendor Reviews
- Shop Weddingbee
Weddingbee boards
Do you have a wedding planner that may be able to negotiate with them? Maybe you should talk to a lawyer about your options, perhaps he would have some suggestions to get the cancellation penatly lowered to a more reasonable amount. I'm surprised the venue coordinator is enforcing the clause so strictly, considering six months is plenty of time to rebook - especially for a June wedding in a big city!
unfortunately, it sounds like your contract locked you in for that amount. since most venues book a year or more in advance, 6 months notice isn't a whole lot of time for them to find another wedding reception, which is why they're charging you so much. in other words, they probably already turned other brides away for that date, and those brides have booked elsewhere.
i'm so sorry about your fi's dad!
I just had a thought, but maybe you won't like it... if you can't get out of it, maybe you can have your small ceremnony in California with just a nice dinner with your guests afterwards, and then a larger reception at your original venue for the people who won't be coming to the smaller one? It's true that those people won't be able to witness the ceremony, but they will enjoy the party and being part of your marriage - and at least you won't be spending money on the venue for nothing.
That was kind of the plan, but it will be super expensive to have a reception at the hotel as well as fly my family to California for the wedding itself. I am not worried about anyone but the people we are very close to being there for the actual vows. But to have a reception at a hotel in the city is expensive and the budget won't allow for both the giant reception and flying to his parents. We were thinking more along the lines of giant casual bbq in a backyard. Not huge fancy reception since it is most likely going to be a month after the wedding. I don't understand how they could possibly expect such a large amount to not even have the wedding there more than six months out. It is disappointing that I got "locked in" to a contract with a penalty that was not explained to us, nor is properly explained in the contract. If I were cancelling closer to the date I could see it. I guess if worse comes to worse I will have to have the wedding/reception there, and sacrafice having my groom's family there. Basically I will be forced into a wedding that is not what we want.
What I'm about to say is not legal advice, and I don't know all of the details or the laws of your state. But I can't imagine that you would be obligated to pay 60% of the food and beverage minimum when they are not being asked to prepare any food or beverages for you, so their damages are necessarily going to be reduced. Keeping your entire deposit as damages would be unkind, but fair. Asking you to pay another $6,000 is probably not within their rights. I would cancel immediately (before the six months) and sort out the details later.
ETA: Just because your contract says a certain thing doesn't necessarily mean you will be held to exactly that. Some unscrupulous companies will write very draconian cancellation clauses that will scare people into paying a lot of money or not cancelling, when those clauses might not be enforceable, either at all, or as written. If they try to make you pay more money than the $1,000 (your deposit is probably gone), I would consult a lawyer.
i think this is pretty standard stuff. just like an apartment lease. you break the lease, you are obligated to pay all the rent that would have been collected if you stayed the entire year, unless there is a cancellation clause. your cancellation clause is 60% instead of 100%. that $1000 deposit was just a deposit, and likely non-refundable. they dont have to give you any of that $1000k back. i would try to negotiate this with them nicely...maybe tell them how sick your FIL is, maybe cry a little... because you are definitely on the hook for the 60% of food + bev min, not 60% of the non-refundable deposit.
If I would have known a wedding was this stressful, I would have never planned one and just eloped in Vegas or something.
Would you consider going down there just the two of you and your own parents, to be married in a small church or even at a courthouse with just the two of you and both your parents? You can still have your wedding and grand reception as planned in your own town the following week, and that way you don't have to pay the costs of flying so many guests down there with you.
You could do a small "vow renewal" sort of ceremony for show before the reception. Just make sure that all of your guests understand that it is not the real deal. Typically a "fake" ceremony might annoy some people, but I think this is a special situation and most will be okay with it, and even think it's nice. I know that many of your guests will be disappointed at not being there for the ceremony, but I'm sure they'd understand your situation. This is probably what I would do.
At this point we have no choice but to have a big wedding without his father there. We can't afford to fly to California with family only (I also have two sisters, a brother-in-law, and a niece and nephew who would want to be there) to have a small ceremony and then have a big reception out here. It's either the big fancy thing here, or a small wedding there and a casual reception here. We can't afford to be out a $6200 cancellation fee for something. Unfortunately my hand is forced and we don't have a choice.
Can you sell the date? Or, find someone to take your date? Most venues will give you your money back as long as they get another booking. Maybe you could try posting it on CL.
@tksjewelry: We have to start planning now, so if I can't get the date rebooked we are out of luck. We have to give out of town people enough time to make travel arrangements. Right now I am just trying to figure out how to get "re-excited".
For that amount of money, I think I would consult an attorney. If the contract is as vague as you have indicated, it might not be enforceable to the amount that they desire.
We had a similar problem. I booked a venue but a few months later I realized that I it wasn't the best place for us. We wanted something for our wedding and adding those things would have been too costly for us. So we had to find another venue with a caterer who could offer what we wanted at at cheaper price.
Like you our contract stated we had to pay a percentage of the total quote. We honestly didn't have that money. Like you, we thought if we cancelled we would only lose our deposit. We actually got some advice from a groomsmen's mother who is a lawyer. I can't remember exactly what we wrote but we did it in a way to tell them that we can't afford the additional cost. We were apologetic to the venue. We thanked them for all the help that have done. We didn't want to piss them off, we just wanted them to know that we couldn't pay them. We sent the letter via certified mail so that we would have a record of us being nice and apologetic just in case the venue wanted to sue us to get the funds owed to them. We were ready for the wedding venue to call us and demand the rest of the money from us. Luckily, they never called us back. They took our deposit and that was the end of it. I was still on the look out a few months after that because if they were going to sue us, that it would take some time.
But like I said, nothing happened after that. I may be one of the lucky ones. The DH probably has the letter saved some where but I don't have it. If you really want to know what was written to our venue, PM me and I'll see if I can find it.
Good luck. Sorry about your FFIL. Hope he's getting better.
I agree with others, you should consul a laywer and try to reason with the venue! At least try before deciding you don't have a choice! Or perhaps you could try finding another bride yourself: on this board there might be brides srambling to try to find a venue in your town so late in the process!
You must log in to post.
| Visit our sister sites | eHarmony Online Dating |
eHarmony Advice Dating Advice |
Project Wedding Wedding Songs |
JustMommies Pregnancy Calendar |
Create the honeymoon of your dreams.
| User | Posts Today |
|---|---|
 vorpalette |
27 |
| caseyleigh10 | 24 |
| Brielle | 24 |
| ellisrobertson | 24 |
| les105 | 22 |
| lionskitty | 22 |
| fishbone | 22 |
| SouthernGirl | 21 |
| mypinkshoes | 21 |
| kat2014 | 19 |
| User | Posts Today |
|---|---|
| Samo12 | 5 |
| les105 | 4 |
| Mrs.McMac | 3 |
| nerdysarah | 3 |
| fishbone | 3 |
| pengoala | 2 |
| rachie205 | 2 |
| out4answers |
2 |
| vorpalette |
2 |
| jules28 | 2 |
I am having a slight problem in regards to my wedding. Originally the groom and I planned a big ceremony and reception near my hometown in Philadelphia, PA at I hotel. We put a deposit of $1000 to hold the date. The wedding was scheduled for June 25, 2011. However, recently we have found out that the groom's father is ill and would not be able to make the trip from California to Pennsylvania. Hearing this devestated us because family is really important to us and we want everyone there. We figured seeing as we haven't even sent out Save the Date cards yet, we could change the plans so that we could have a small ceremony where his parents are with family and close friends only (under 30 people) instead of the originally planned 150 guests. I e-mailed the coordinator at the hotel we originally booked at. She is telling me that if they can't rebook the space I will need to pay them an additional $6200 dollars on top of the $1000 deposit that we originally paid. When I look back through the contract under cancellation policy all it says is 6 months or more prior to event the party cancelling must pay 60%. It doesn't say what that sixty percent is of. We assumed it was of the $1000 deposit. No where does it mention that the percentage is of the food and beverage minimum (which is $12000). I am pretty frustrated and confused. We are giving more than enough notice, and had that part of the contract been explained we would have never signed it. I do not want to get married without our families present, it would break both my heart and my fiance's. Any advice?