Cancelled Wedding

Hintza

philip1988 wrote: »

ie if they can resell at short notice even at a reduced price.

So does the OP have to pay any reasonable advertising costs if they don't resell? Probably not. The only way this will resell is if the venue gets very very lucky.

meer53

I think it's really unfair to try to get out of paying what is owed under the terms of the contract. I don't think many people organise a wedding reception in 4 weeks. Most are usually booked months, if not years ahead aren't they ?

Whether they employ staff on zero hours contracts is their business, i think it's only fair to pay.

bris

meer53 wrote: »

I think it's really unfair to try to get out of paying what is owed under the terms of the contract. I don't think many people organise a wedding reception in 4 weeks. Most are usually booked months, if not years ahead aren't they ?

Whether they employ staff on zero hours contracts is their business, i think it's only fair to pay.

What's fair is not always what's legal.

The venue has a duty to mitigate their losses, if that means they can give any staff that would have been their for this venue the night of then they are legally obliged to do so, it's the whole point of mitigating the loss.

£1500 deposit is a lot of money, it may even be to much, make no mistake they would have to justify it in court.

Other things that need to be taken into consideration is food costs, entertainment ect.

The venue should at the end of it be left with the profit they would have made on the night, any thing else is a penalty.

The venue may however be in contract with staff, entertainment and food suppliers etc for the night in question that they themselves are stuck with. This is where it can get tricky and where a small claims court would be needed to sift through all the paperwork to determine the venues true losses, if it were to go that far then the court would want to see this.

philip1988

unholyangel wrote: »

I wouldnt expect the full payment. If staff are on casual contracts then that an amount they could save - and by law they're not entitled to any sum they can reasonable save.

However, this late on.....I'd very likely be expecting to pay a large part of it.

I would expect the food and drink costs (which even with only 4 weeks to go they wouldn't have been purchased) would account for approx 30% of the menu/drink/wine costs after the deduction of VAT

frugal_mike

meer53 wrote: »

I think it's really unfair to try to get out of paying what is owed under the terms of the contract.

I don't think it's unfair to avoid paying parts of the payment that were to cover expenses that will no longer be incurred. As long as the venue makes the same profit they would make if the wedding went ahead then they haven't lost out. At this short notice there might not be any expenses that can be avoided, but it makes sense to look into it.

thesmallcheese

Hi All,

An update...

Now I have access to the documents, it has become clearer. The £1500 paid was actually a "cautionary deposit", so refundable after the event as long as no damage has been caused to the venue.

The contract states that this deposit is non refundable in the event of a cancellation, and also that the venue reserves the right to charge the full amount for venue hire if cancellation is within 6 months of the event date.

This set alarm bells ringing - so if the event is cancelled, my family member would end up paying MORE than if not cancelled - I.e. full cost of venue hire plus loss of the deposit.

This goes against my basic understanding of contract law - in that one party cannot benefit of the other cancels.

Anyhow, the venue have now agreed to reduce the full cost of the venue hire by £1500, so effectively "refunding" the cautionary deposit.

They have also reduced the amount owing by around £600 due to a discrepancy I found in the quotations.

One part of me is inclined to advise them to pay this Reduced amount, but a small part of me thinks that we could claim the contract is null anyway, due to the terms being unfair (ie staying you pay more in the event of cancellation.

Any thoughts?

Thank you! TSC

halibut2209

thesmallcheese wrote: »

This set alarm bells ringing - so if the event is cancelled, my family member would end up paying MORE than if not cancelled - I.e. full cost of venue hire plus loss of the deposit.

No, if the event is cancelled you would get the £1500 back. If no one is there, then no one can damage it.

lazer

Just remember that even though the venue may not have to pay for staff, costs of food etc, they will also lose out on profit that they would have got from drink sales had the event gone ahead, possibly accommodation costs too, if guests have booked rooms which are able to be cancelled!

thesmallcheese

The contract states that the cautionary deposit is non refundable in the event of cancellation. Seems dodgy to me!

duchy

I think you've gone from no refund to an improved offer. If it goes to court you refusing to meet them part way could go against you . The hotel will still have costs and lost profit which are quantifiable in a defence.