wedding venue cancelled! legal advice please

picklepooter

hi, is there anyone out there with legal know how who can help me know my rights please as our wedding venue in france has just been sold & the owner has cancelled our booking!! no mention of the property being up for sale has ever been mentioned in any of our dealings with her.

the wedding is in september, the venue has been booked ( through the owners direct website ) for several months, deposits paid on 3 separate places owned by the same woman, further deposits paid on other accommodation for additional guests, flights & ferries booked by most of the wedding guests, personalised wedding invitations designed & printed etc. all in all we stand to lose about half of our entire wedding budget, which was tiny to begin with, & we would also feel obliged to refund all our guests travel costs which would just about kill us.

can i legally reclaim all of these associated costs from her & not just the deposits paid on the actual venue? we are going to have to start completely from scratch & are feeling a bit overwhelmed...especially as we were getting married abroad in the first place because we only have a small budget.

fawny

Hi,

Really sorry to hear this. Do you have a contract from the venue & what does it say in there? Also do you have wedding insurance that you can claim from? Sorry I can't advise any further but hopefully someone will be able to.

picklepooter

thanks for the reply...it's a self-catering chateau so booking t's & c's only refer to owner finding alternate accommodation in the event the venue isn't available beyond their control - of course it was totally within their control because they put it up for sale without telling us!

no wedding insurance unfortunately...

johannalf88

Because one party is in France it 'may' come under French law. So it may be best to actively seek a solicitor.

I will send a quick copy of this to someone who may have a better reply than me...

RainbowDrops

picklepooter wrote: »

no wedding insurance unfortunately...

Oh dear, how about travel insurance?
It's unlikely that they'd cover it, but might be worth a stab.
Or your credit card - that gives you some protection too.
Might be worth asking on the consumer rights board.

Yet another warning to all the other Brides & Grooms out there to get wedding insureance as soon as you've put deposits down & have money to lose.

malkie76

RainbowDrops wrote: »

Yet another warning to all the other Brides & Grooms out there to get wedding insureance as soon as you've put deposits down & have money to lose.

It's best to get the insurance before you put the deposits down as many insurers won't cover you for spend you've already made.

OP - pop down to your local CIB, they might be able to offer help, or at least confirm where you stand.

floss2

OP, how did you and your guests pay the deposits?

angelil

I reckon you could be screwed in terms of reclaiming anything from the French side - I doubt you'd be able to reclaim much under French law without going via a French court and a French solicitor, which would be difficult with any language barrier this may pose to you. Try to settle it amicably with the owner first via registered post etc before going to court. I fear this may be difficult for you.

How easy this will be for you may depend on where you live. I find it unlikely from what you say that you're actually getting married in France due to the 40-day residency requirement (correct me if I'm wrong though) - it seems to me that you're doing "the paperwork" in the UK and then having a blessing type thing in France. I speak as someone who got married in France last year and I warn you that the French can be difficult to deal with simply due to the sheer enormity of the levels of bureaucracy here.

As mentioned, your best bet is as follows:
- Try to settle compensation amicably with the owner
- If this doesn't work, go through a French lawyer and French courts
- If this doesn't work either, claim through wedding insurance or just chalk it up to experience

I don't know how far you'll be able to claim back peripheral expenses, even from credit card companies, as ultimately you've still had a service that you were satisfied with at the time of delivery (as is the case with the invitations for example). If you do need to change the venue of your reception/whatever it is you are having (you can only get legally married in France in a town hall!) then I'm sure guests won't mind being told alternative arrangements by email, phone, a simple slip of paper in the post. With luck if you can schedule an alternative venue (which in September you should be able to as it's hardly high season) guests shouldn't need to change their travel and accommodation arrangements either. Either way, you'd have to go to court to stand a chance of claiming back these peripheral expenses if needed.

Ugh, sorry this has turned out to be so long. I hope you manage to sort it. Getting married abroad is an absolute minefield and it's hard enough when you actually live and work here and speak the language! Best of luck with it x