Hi we booked our wedding in Feb of this year to get married in Nov of next year, 2020. We paid a £500 deposit to secure the date.
We have since decided that it is going to be way too expensive for us to have it there because we’re going through the adoption process and it’s went alot quicker than planned. Therefore when Im off on one year leave I will go down to statutory pay and it won’t be affordable at that venue anymore. We aren’t willing to get into debt for it, so we want to be sensible and cut our cloth to measure.
I have let the venue know we need to cancel and explained the circumstances, however they have pointed out that as per the written contract we are liable to pay 50% of the costs of the wedding which is £3,000 (on top of the £500 deposit).
We are giving them sixteen months notice to cancel which we feel is ample time to seek alternative custom. It it is very unfair to expect £3,500 overall from customers who won’t actually be using the venue.
It was only an evening wedding so they are still open for lunch that day and if they don’t sell on the date they can still open for dinner. However Ill be surprised if the date isn’t snapped up.
They also haven't incurred any losses apart from some admin as it is so far away from the wedding date. We don’t expect the £500 deposit back, so that should cover the few back and forward emails.
Has anyone any legal advice or been in a similar situation where the contract was totally unreasonable? If we were cancelling close to the date I’d understand but sixteen months notice is alot. We only booked it five
months ago.
Thanks