Venue Contract Nightmare!!!!!....:( ***UPDATE****

You need to read you contract and the t+c's very carefully and go on that

This is making me consider wedding insurance a little more than i have been doing...

read it and go in to the venue and explain in detail about your job. how much deposit did you put down?.

A lot of wedding insurance policies will not cover a change of mind which essentially is what this is (albeit provoked by job security).

Our contract stated that if we cancelled within 12 months we had to pay 20% of the final cost, this was then scaled all the way to 3 months when we would have had to pay 100%.

If you have booked the venue and signed a contract that states that you will have to pay a % within a certain timescale then it seems you will have to pay up. I gues they have turned away other potential clients for your date so have possibly lost revenue if you change your mind. That is a lot of money to pay out for not actually having the wedding there. Could you not still get married there but scale it down.

What does the contract say?

The miminum guests for the venue is 90 people, so only a large wedding is optional there.

I've sent them a really soppy email so hopefully they will be compassionate...but otherwise I'm probably stuck with a £15k wedding and won't be able to get a honeymoon or consider having a life for the next few years....

The contract says 12-6 months cancellation 50%...but when I spoke to the coordinator wheat the original booking, when talking about deposits she said after the initial £500 deposit a further balance of half would be due around the 6 mont mark. I know this is just verbal, but to me thats a physcological contract. And that's why I assumed I wouldn't lose anything other than my initial deposit....

Unfortunately I don't think the two things are incompatible. The co-ordinator appears to be talking about when further money would have been due from you if you had continued your booking, the money they are asking for now is because you have cancelled now. I think they are two separate things.

I do hope that the venue is sympathetic to your email. There is plenty of time between now and the date of your booking so it's likely they will be able to re-book it and you could ask them to take this into account.

Grrr Hitched ate my first reply...

These are two very different things, there are payment due dates and cancellation clauses.

You need to work out whether it would be cheaper cancelling with a fee and having another wedding abroad or whether to continue and cut back where you can.

I hope that the job situation calms down for you soon, a lot of people are feeling it at the moment.

I think what Jules.40 suggested is a good idea if you could find someone to fill the slot but at 15k that is a big budget for a lot of brides. Certainly worth a try though.

I would seek legal advice as it sounds to me that you may be able to get around it. Hotels try now and again to put in t's and c's that are not legal in hoping that no one will question them.

I also believe (from what ive been told) that it is illigal for companys to enforce penelty clauses and this may fall under that guideline. The amount is not due until 6 months before hand and so you may be able to get around it.

Seek legal advice, Some solicitors give free legal advice.

Did you know....you can challenge a contract if you deem it to be unfair?

I did it recently with something totally unconnected with weddings and discos... I was displeased that they'd changed the way things were being done halfway through the year and it wasn't what I'd signed up for. They waved the contract in my face with a statement that they could change whatever they liked. I challenged the contract as being unfair.... and won. You can't just put what you want on a contract. A contract has to be seen as being fair to both parties.

With what has been said verbally and the fact there's a good chance they can fill that date... I would conasider challenging the contract.

We had to cancel our first venue and the cancellation charge was 25% due to it being 6-12 months before the event, which was stated in the contract wording so fair enough.

However what the venue failed to tell me (until I noticed it in the small print and pointed it out to them), is that if they are able to book out the suite to somebody else on that date then we would not be liable for any charge at all. This also means that if we do have to pay, then it won't be until after the wedding so it won't have to come out of our budget. I am going to make a sneaky call to the venue a couple of weeks before and pretend that I am looking to book the suite in order to find out if somebody else has taken it, as I'm slightly suspicious that the hotel will claim they couldn't secure a booking even if they have!

I would go through the contract with a fine tooth comb as you may find a similar clause in yours.

Generally if it's in a contract and you've signed it you have to either pay or seek legal advice.

What I would say is 4k seems enough to 'ignore' their attempts to claim and might force them into negotiation.

However.......venues typically will not be able to find another booking on that day this late. Venues and photographers are usually the first to be booked and rarely get last minute enquiries. I have 42 weddings this year but the whole of November is free and this Saturday is still available without enquiries. Virtually all enquiries now are for next year.

You made the commitment to them and you 'should' honour the contract. They probably have turned away other couples because of your commitment and yet late in the day you want to cancel and it's not fair to expect a company in these times to take a 4k hit to indulge you.

I would be severely peeved if you honoured it and they subsequently took another booking without refunding you anything though.

You could ignore them....and then in six months get someone to see if they have availability and if not...use it as a case to not pay.

Thanks for everyone's replies.....

I have contacted Trading Standards and faxed them a copy of my contract for them to go over. What I was advised is that they can't just charge me £4K the amount needs to be justifiable1) if they were to find alternative booking, they can't gain from my cancellation fee's. So tradings advised I should not pay for anything until after the event date, and only once the prove they were unable to fill the space 2) £4K seems steep, I had calculated that the whole lot would be about £6K (if I chose meal, drinks package and buffet) there's nothing in the contract to say I must take all these options (the 15K i quoted in an earlier post includes everything else that goes with wedding, photographer , dress, cars etc).

I'm waiting on Trading Standards getting back to me before I contact the venue again though, so that I am clear as to how I'm going to approach them....

I'll keep you updated.....

*Update*

Trading standards have advised me not to contact the venue again, as they have spoken to the venue directly. After reading the terms in which I signed they believe the terms are unfair and should be challanged. I haven't received an outcome yet, but I will follow the advice of the professionals and leave it up to them.

*Update*

Trading standards have advised me not to contact the venue again, as they have spoken to the venue directly. After reading the terms in which I signed they believe the terms are unfair and should be challanged. I haven't received an outcome yet, but I will follow the advice of the professionals and leave it up to them.

I have also read up on Consumer rights on the Unfair Contract Terms Act 1977 and agree with Trading standards based on what I have read.

This issue may go as far as court (hopefully not! but if it does, I feel strongly enough to go as far as necessary).........

Hopefully the case is as solid as it sounds... but you can't help but wonder how many people have just quietly accepted it and paid up over the years?

Hopefully you will be able to resolve this without going to court as it could end up costing you more than the initial wedding bill! Let us know how you get on.

Well, where the amount in question is less than £5,000 you can resolve the matter in the small claims court (if thinks go that far). That's way cheaper and quicker so I wouldn't let the idea of court put you off pushing this. /law-and-courts/legal-system/small-claims/deciding-whether-to-make-a-small-claim/

I think the advice given by Trading Standards is misleading at best and potentially negligent.

You have a contract with them, presumably with cancellation clauses. If you cancel, those cancellation clauses come into play. I agree that if you're able to find someone to take your booking a fee should not be payable (there would be no loss and therefore no claim in law) but if you're not, why should a venue be out of pocket because you've changed your mind.

Trading Standards intervening does NOT mean that your venue don't have a claim against you for non payment. The contract is between you and your venue, not your venue and TS. Ignoring your venue is the worst thing you can do in this situation. They are TS, not the CAB or a qualified lawyer.

The OP doesn't have the basis of a claim whatsoever so I'm not sure what the point you're trying to make is.

Trading Standards implied that she does have a claim as the terms are unfair and she mentioned that it might be going to court. That's why I chipped that in.

CB is a lawyer so I guess she knows what she is on about?

I know bugger all and I would say that if you have signed the contract then sadly you are bound by its terms.

Vicster, the going to court thing will refer to them taking her.

People need to be careful when giving out what they perceive to be legal advice. If she takes some of the stuff given out on here to be accurate, she may well be sued and it could adversely affect her credit rating as well as making her liable for an ever greater amount.

What I said is still accurate... it could be dealt with in the small claims court. I'm a lawyer too so have some idea what I'm talking about, though not a contract lawyer.

I would keep in contact on a regular basis with Trading Standards,

If Trading standards think somethings wrong and have advised not to make contact with the venue i would wait and see what how they play it.

They are not short of funding to investigate. Just make sure it doesnt all go quiet as that usually means nothings happening and you could end up in more trouble.

I think 5.6 in this section may be what they are thinking

http://www.oft.gov.uk/shared_oft/reports/unfair_contract_terms/oft311.pdf

As a general rule, with anything involving anything "legal", the worst thing you can do is ignore it and hope it goes away.

Then you should be well aware of the perils of providing advice outside of your area of expertise.

I'm hoping it won't go as far as court, at the moment I'm following the advice of TS as they feel confident that they should be able to resolve it for me. If it does get to the stage of court then I intend to seek legal advice from a lawyer. I would never dream of letting it get that far without sPecialist advice.

Totally besides the point, but where in Italy if you don't mind me asking? I got engaged in Sorrento and we briefly considered going back there for the wedding.

WSS

I think many are you are getting confused - the OP can't sue them, she has no claim. They can sue her for breach of contract. The whole TS thing, if anything, might mitigate the amount she has to pay to them but ultimately it is her that owes them money in accordance with the contract.