to cancel wedding with 4 weeks notice

[User125547]

I suppose I need legal advice but really hoping to get anything. I feel as though I am going to implode with anxiety.

Our wedding was always booked for 4 weeks time, way before the pandemic. The pandemic came, our wedding venue got sued at least 10 times for bad practice, stories in the papers etc. All not good.

We do not want to go ahead and instead want to just get married ina register office, small and simple.

We paid £1500 deposit and the contract says this is non refundable. That’s fine. There’s £3000 remaining to pay. We need to cancel. No where in the contract does it say we need to pay the full balance if we cancel, we just lose the deposit.

The venue is in the UK but not England (where we live) and the rules are behind. Whilst there is talk that July 19th will allow everything to go ahead, we have no certainty. I simply cannot plan with not knowing the rules and we are concerned about rising cases due to elderly and extremely vulnerable core people in the wedding.

We cannot postpone because the person who rented it to us will no longer own it in 2022, so won’t allow it.

What do I do? Any advice?

Can you just contact them and cancel ASAP (and before they can say they’ve ordered food etc). It will come down to the contract terms but they’d need to decide if they bother chasing you for the money if they even think that the contract allows them to recover it from you.

Have you booked anything else that you might have to pay for such as a band. I'd double check your contract to make sure you won't need to pay a percentage of the remaining fees. If not then cancel ASAP so they have sufficient notice before ordering food etc.

Cancel it and go to a registry office. From the sounds of it, they are a terrible business anyway, so don't deserve any more of your money.

If you are sure there is nothing in the contract / agreement that you must pay more than the £1500 deposit if you cancel, then cancel. It's a shame you lost the deposit but it's just one of those things.

You may be able to get a solicitor to look over it for you if you're worried. They might charge you for an hour of their time but that might still be worth it to give you piece of mind.