Venue problems - advice on writing a letter

Bluefire

I won't explain the problems we're having with our venue; that's in the letter. I just wanted a bit of advice on whether what I've written is ok really - this is only a first draft. Really upset me writing it as I LOVE our venue!

"It is with concern that we write regarding our booking of

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for our wedding on the 4th of June 2012.

We confirmed our wish to book

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in September, and over 3 months later we still have yet to pay a deposit of any kind. The lack of communication regarding deposit information and when the price list for 2012 will be available has left us deeply worried.

On the 20th of September we first e-mailed confirming that we wish to book

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as our venue. This went unanswered. On the 22nd we followed up with a second e-mail confirming that we had made a provisional booking with the registrar and that we also wished to book the cottage for one week from the 1st of June 2012. This too went unanswered until further phone calls were made, and on the 10th of October we finally received an e-mail from

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confirming that our date was in the diary, and that he would “follow up with details on deposits etc tomorrow.”

This was the last communication we have received from yourselves. We sent further e-mails on the 12th of October reiterating that we wished to book the Cottage, and the 19th of October as a result of not receiving the promised deposit information, both of which went unanswered.

We are now in a position where we feel unable to proceed with our wedding planning until our venue choice is secure. Rather than get the head start we wanted with booking in advance the last few months have been spent worrying that we may have missed an email regarding deposits, that we could end up losing our date or even that we may have to start our venue search over from the beginning. We have also been left completely unable to plan a budget without a price list to work to, and still have no idea whether our reservation for the cottage has actually been made.

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was our ideal venue and we were very much looking forward to getting married there. We are now at the stage though where if we don’t receive some sort of communication regarding deposit information and a timescale for 2012 prices within the next fortnight we will be forced to begin our venue search again. This is something which we are very reluctant to do however we feel we are being left with very little choice."

Thanks for any help!

roses

Since you've not paid them a penny, this rings loudly that they are very unprofessional. Imagine the further stress nearer the time! I'd give this place a wide berth and find somewhere else.

sammy_wheeler

letter seems fine. to the point and accurate with dates etc
but i would be very worried at booking the venue!- with that amount of mess up already i wudnt have faith that they wouldnt mess up things nearer the time.
sorry you have had a horrid stressful time

Mrsanders

I'm so sorry you're having troubles with them if you have your heart set on this venue, the letter sounds very good to me. I personally would feel the same as the other people though, they do not seem very professional and I had a similar problem when I was looking for a photographer, I sent them an email asking several questions and the reply avoided everyone of them and just gave the details of how to book with them, I felt they had not listened to a single thing I had said so decided to book with another photographer. I hope you get everything sorted, good luck!

ellay864

Letter's great but I agree with everybody else. What if you pay a deposit, book everything and then have the same communication problems when you're a few weeks away from your wedding...I'd be stressing out far too much. Do you know of anybody else who's married there? Do you have any personal feedback on the place? Maybe it's changed management. Given it's been several months of you chasing I'd be running in the opposite direction by now

picklepick

Sorry to sound like I'm having a go, but if they're so rubbish at replying to emails why don't you just ring them and get the information you need that way?

Bluefire

Well I've sent it; so we'll see what kind of response I get, if any! The problem is that what we want is quite specific, a barn venue, most of which are an hour away from where we live (too far according to OH's family) so finding something close to home was somewhat of a miracle. The venue has had a large hand in our date as well - we chose a bank holiday Monday because they don't charge extra for bank holidays bringing it within budget (based on the 2011 figures anyway!) So much will have to change if we alter venues *sigh*

But we will, especially if the response we receive isn't favourable. They're a family run venue, so no change of management, however I know that only one member deals with the e-mails and I get the feeling he's taken a dislike to us (god knows why, he made me feel like I was hassling them the last time I rang though!) The letter I made sure is addressed to the mother so hopefully she'll get it & actually do something about it. If not it's back to the drawing board, which I know I should be doing anyway, it's just so disheartening after everything I've pictured to do with our day has been in that venue...

Bluefire

picklepick wrote: »

Sorry to sound like I'm having a go, but if they're so rubbish at replying to emails why don't you just ring them and get the information you need that way?

We have rung a fair few times (which is already mentioned in the letter but I've since added another bit about ringing after the e-mails in October) however the last time I rang I was just made to feel guilty about hassling them when they were busy so I just left the ball in their court for a while to see if that would work. It didn't.

picklepick

I would call and ask to speak to the lady you're writing the letter to. If she isnt there ask when she will be and call back to speak to her personally. The guy who does the emailing sounds like a numpty!

Hope it gets sorted for you.

SplanK

you are emailing them..although we live in an age where electronics rule - not everybody is up to speed, and there are still lots of problems with email systems in general - they may never receive your email... I am an IT tech and I know all about "went missing in the post" emails - it happens a LOT more than you think....

We have arranged a place for our wedding - they say we can pay deposits over the phone, email and what not - but i insist on driving the 30 miles to the venue for all comms... I even dropped off the signed contract to them rather than post it.. and I will be driving down there tomorrow to pay the 2nd deposit..

That way I know stuff is happening, they cant claim it was lost in the post or they never got it, I can talk to them, get to know them them, monitor the venue for any changes that we have not been made aware of, and I know stuff is happening and wont "get lost in the post"

Before sending the letter... CALL them and arrange a meeting with them to discuss prices, deposits, arangments and plan of action moving forwards... then see how you feel and take it from there...

abis21

Well, I think if it was me, I'd stick with it. If it was my dream venue, and there was nothing else remotely like it nearby.

I would say it sounds like they're not very busy with wedding bookings, and to them its not a massive big deal about the date as they wouldn't be double booked if you know what I mean.

My venue is not ace at getting back to me at all. In fact, its fairly rubbish and I had to chase quite a few times for quotes etc. But to be fair, they are new owners, with a new chef so they had to work out all the costings, and on top of that there was loads and loads of snow round here which caused delays and the chef's wife was having a baby but there were a lot of complications.

So the owner never got chance to sit down with the chef really to go over the quote.

I tried ringing a few times, but found it much much easier to go there in person to sort it. Would that be possible for you to do? Its harder for them to fob you off that with an email and phone call.

I know with my venue, its not that common for them to have the function room booked (there is a much more popular place that a lot of people from my town choose to have their reception at - but it is more than double the price!) So to them, there was no rush, even though I was wanting it booking for July this year.

I know its hard as you want to get things moving, and without a venue, there not really much else you can plan. Especially until you know the quote so you know what is left in your budget.

But if it was me, I think I'd hang on in there. Good luck!