cancelled wedding. are we entitled to a refund?

[jillyarmeen16]

We booked our venue and paid a deposit then went back and paid more.
We are now not getting married. Venue say we are not entitled to any refund including money paid over the deposit. Wedding would have been 8 months away.
Where do we stand? There was no contract. Obviously this is already a very difficult time losing the money is making it harder to stomach but also can't really face a fight.

[balletgirlmum]

When was the balance due?

I wouldn't have thought you were entitled to a refund.

[Samantha28]

You need to look at your contract - I know you say you have none, but I assume you mean you had one and now you can't find it ? Ask the venue for a copy or look on their website .


I'm sorry you find yourself in this difficult situation

[jillyarmeen16]

There was no contract all I have are receipts. One says deposit the others don't.
Not sure when balance was due either. Wish we had a contract is 6 weeks prior standard for settling the balance on this type of thing.

[Samantha28]

Get someone else you know to go to the hotel and enquire about weddings and ask for a copy of their contract to look over at home / discuss with their fiancé / parents

[Takeparacetamolandstopmoaning]

I think, with 8 months notice you'd have a good chance of getting a good amount of this back through small claims. I would issue a letter before action to them giving them a chance to respond in 14 days then lodge a claim.
Sorry you're going through a rough time :(

[jillyarmeen16]

Thank you that is a good regarding contract. If they have one she didn't give us one.
I don't expect the deposit back but the rest even some of it as they have time to fill the date.

[jillyarmeen16]

Good idea even. Does it cost to make a small claim? Would feel bad bringing our bad luck onto them but then again they have made £1000 for doing nothing.

[Takeparacetamolandstopmoaning]

It does cost, about £100 I think. Don't worry about it, it's part and parcel of doing business and as you say, why should they get money for nothing? The court will decide how much their loss can be quantified

[Fourormore]

I'm assuming you didn't take out any wedding insurance that might cover it?

[HermioneWeasley]

Isn't the point if a deposit that it's non refundable? You are paying to secure those services on a given date. They have honoured that. The fact you're not going through with it means you don't have to pay the balance.

I am sorry that the wedding has been cancelled though.

[fastdaytears]

Hermione it sounds like OP has paid more than the deposit and it's the extra bit she's trying to get back.

OP I'm so sorry about all this but whatever your reason is, it's a million times better to have faced up to it now.

[akkakk]

roughly speaking you can get back everything beyond the 'cost' to the venue - it may even be that if it is very popular that they will have no problem re-booking meaning that their only cost will be a small admin charge...

would second small claims court, look up money online - it is very simple and there is a good guide on how to use it -cost of MCO depends on how much you are claiming, but can be £50 / £80 / +

[Enjolrass]

I used to work organising weddings for a hotel.

Standard is deposit on booking and further deposit further down the line.

They don't have to give it back, but we would refund the second deposit if we managed to book a wedding. If approx equal size in that date. We didn't state in our contest we would but we did it anyway.

If your date was a Saturday in summer, a new booking was fairly easy to fill (although we were booking 2 years in advance we did get Kate enquires).

If you booked a Monday in winter, there is far less chance of filling the date.

[jillyarmeen16]

Wedding insurance doesn't cover the groom being a lying cheating scum bag.
We paid over the deposit and it's that I'm trying to get back. It was a Saturday in the summer. So I think they could full it. Will get my mum to call them and see if they will come round to being a bit fairer. So sick of having to deal with all the shit on top of everything else.

[fastdaytears]

So sorry OP. It doesn't seem it but it is better to know this now. The future is scumbag free.

If your mum wants to help (I'm sure she does) can you shove all this cancellation stuff on to her and then you can focus on more important things?

[HermioneWeasley]

My friend had similar for a birthday party - though it was a few days before not months as in yours. Can't remember why they couldn't go ahead but venue refused to refund anything as they said they'd bought the food (they hadn't). Friend's mum insisted in being given all the food they'd bought and for weeks afterwards anyone who went round got given a big bag of BBQ food and cheesecakes etc.

Really sorry jilly but as others have said, it's so much better to find out now. Even if you don't get any of the money back, it will still be cheaper than a divorce.

[N1cholas]

Because there was no written contract between you and the venue all the terms of the agreement are going to have to be implied. A lot will therefore depend on your recollection of what was said by either side; for example do you have records of any communication before you went back to pay the further amounts?

The costs of issuing a small claim depend on the amount being claimed. How much are you seeking? Assuming yours is at the lower end, it will probably be around £100, then there will also be a hearing fee of about £100 too. You will get those back if you win, but you can only recover about £80 of solicitors costs.

[jillyarmeen16]

I don't think I've got the energy. It's not much in the grand scheme of things luckily we hadn't put more down. Thanks for all the advice x

[VegasIsBest]

Sorry you're in this position. Sounds crap.
Hope things improve for you.