Am I being unreasonable?

cm2011

Warning - this will be a long post!!!

We have booked a venue for our wedding in June this year, and now only a few months away, we are having loads of problems with them!
The venue we have booked is basically just hiring the house and gardens, and we have to sort out catering etc ourselves - as long as they are from a very select list of their expensive suppliers!

We managed to sort a marquee to go in the gardens as the house isn't big enough for all our guests (I should say at this point that we chose the venue because it is beautiful and has family significance), but due to the costs we have had to book a slightly smaller one and strip out the linings etc - so will need to decorate it all ourselves.

The owner of the venue has not been hosting weddings for that long, and it doesn't seem like they have a clue what they are doing - apart from spending our money!

With 5 months to go they still hadn't sent out the terms and conditions for the hire - we booked it over a year ago, and they are full of repeated clauses and mistakes. They also specify that we can't use the inside of the house after 9pm - which has never been mentioned to us before. We have negotiated to have access to 2 rooms after 9pm now, but they have asked us to put the bar we are having in a room with no heating and lighting and are not providing any!

They have also come back and said that we need to provide a generator for the electricity for the marquee - but we are only allowed to hire this from the marquee company - who want to charge us £500 for the privilege! If we hired it from an independent company like HSS Hire, the same thing would cost us less than £100!

It seems like everything we try to sort results in more problems and barriers and money, and I am really getting worried now that we have made a major mistake in booking this venue and would have been better off with a package somewhere.

Am I being a bridezilla, or has anyone experienced similar and has some advice for me?

Thanks in advance

double_mummy

no advice but some hugs for you cm xx

74jax

What is in your contract? Do you mean your contract states you have full use of the house? Does it list the suppliers you can use?

I would list everything that you consider you have booked and then make an appointment and iron everything out face to face in one sitting.

MrsDrink

I definitely don't think you are being a Bridezilla but I don't have any advice for you. What were the conditions of the hiring as you understood them to be when you agreed to book it? Did you have anything in writing - emails etc? Did they mention any of these additional costs to you at the time of booking? I guess my advice would be to contact the CAB and see what they say. I guess if you can argue you signed up for x, but they aren't providing x instead they are providing y and asking you to pay for z on top then you can fight against them. The only thing though is what outcome you want from this? Them to provide everything you understood you would receive at the original price I guess, but would you be prepared to walk away from them if they don't back down?

jemb

I feel for you! How much are they charging for the privledge of having two rooms with no heating and no light? I think maybe you need to go see them and sit down with them and iron things out, get a contract drawn properly at the same time? Maybe they're pushing to see how much they can get away with asking for?

missminx

No, you're not! Did you sign anything? Did you pay a deposit?

cm2011

We haven't signed the terms and conditions yet, but have paid a £500 deposit - half of the full cost. We are really getting fed up with the constant problems and unprofessional behaviour, but are cautious about making too much of a fuss in case it ends up ruining our day.

MrsDrink

I suspect the fact you have given them £500 would mean that you have entered into a contract with them regardless of whether you've signed a piece of paper. What that contract is though is the key to this. You need to find as much evidence as you can about what it is exactly that you understood you were receiving when you handed over this money, and then work out how much the new terms and conditions are different. You then have something to challenge them over.

missminx

Ok, well, how desperate are you to keep this venue? Check out other options, just so you know you have a back up plan. You also need to find anything you have in writing from them, and I would strongly suggest legal advice, just so you know where you stand - you don't need to make the venue aware that you are doing so, it's for your peace of mind. Do you have a friend or relative who has a legal background?
As Mrsdrink says, exchanging of cash suggests entering in to a contract. It all seems a little odd, and really no cash should have changed hands before you had a copy of the terms & conditions.

floss2

Speak to your local Trading Standards office (look on the Council website for details).

I also think that by paying a deposit you have entered into a contract, but by accepting it so have they. They are maybe just realising the inconvenience to them to have a wedding party in their home in early summer...pity they didn't think about it earlier!

Have you got a receipt stating exactly what you are paying that deposit for, eg hire of hall & grounds? I think you should write a firm letter to them, removing any emotion, detailing your concerns and issues withthe current provision of facilities, then you need to get brochures for comparable venues detailing what is available and meet with them to rationally discuss the situation and how to recover it amicably for both parties.