Wedding deposit woes

DPrescott89

Hello everybody, hope you are all good.

I was hoping for some advice on a wedding booking (apologies if I am in the wrong section)

Here we go, on January 24th, 2015 my partner and I placed a £4,000 (non-refundable written in the contract) deposit on a wedding venue for a wedding to take place on December 2, 2017.

However, since then my partner has lost her job and we're no longer able to save enough money every month to pay for the wedding.

We're contemplating cancelling the wedding because the financial burden, along with her having no income, is putting a lot of weight on our shoulders.

I just wondered where we stood in terms of cancelling and whether we would be able to get any of the deposit back.

In a way we have kind of given up on the £4,000, it would be a much-needed bonus to get it back, especially as the wedding date is 18 months away, but what scares me most is the thought of having to pay extra money.

One part of the contract says: Cancelation notice in excess of 26 weeks would cost us 50 per cent of contract price. That seems a little excessive for a wedding date so long away.

Does anyone know where I stand as to whether I can claim back any of the deposit or am I more likely to be forking out even more cash?

Thanks in advance

wealdroam

DPrescott89 wrote: »

Hello everybody, hope you are all good.

I was hoping for some advice on a wedding booking (apologies if I am in the wrong section)

Here we go, on January 24th, 2015 my partner and I placed a £4,000 (non-refundable written in the contract) deposit on a wedding venue for a wedding to take place on December 2, 2017.

However, since then my partner has lost her job and we're no longer able to save enough money every month to pay for the wedding.

We're contemplating cancelling the wedding because the financial burden, along with her having no income, is putting a lot of weight on our shoulders.

I just wondered where we stood in terms of cancelling and whether we would be able to get any of the deposit back.

In a way we have kind of given up on the £4,000, it would be a much-needed bonus to get it back, especially as the wedding date is 18 months away, but what scares me most is the thought of having to pay extra money.

One part of the contract says: Cancelation notice in excess of 26 weeks would cost us 50 per cent of contract price. That seems a little excessive for a wedding date so long away.

Does anyone know where I stand as to whether I can claim back any of the deposit or am I more likely to be forking out even more cash?

Thanks in advance

Reading this post would be a good starting point:

Is a deposit ever refundable?

Please do come back if that prompts further questions.

DPrescott89

Thanks for the quick response.

Upon reading that it seems I would have a strong case to get £3,000 back with the remaining £1,000 surely more than fair to cover their costs for a wedding which is 18 months away...

bris

DPrescott89 wrote: »

Thanks for the quick response.

Upon reading that it seems I would have a strong case to get £3,000 back with the remaining £1,000 surely more than fair to cover their costs for a wedding which is 18 months away...

No, that's not the way it works. They have to mitigate their losses, they do this by re selling the date in question, if they do this for the same price then they have no losses so must return the full deposit. If they cant re sell the date then you are liable for their losses. If they sell it cheaper you make up the difference etc, so many scenarios can play out.


Loss of profit is a genuine loss, it is mentioned in the link but it doesn't go into any details of what it actually means, this is a mistake that the link makes because it gives the wrong impression on your rights. People read unfair penalty ect and get excited thinking deposits are refundable under any circumstances which simply isn't true.


For the money in question, it would be wise to keep an eye on the date to see if it's resold. In any case you can try the small claims court, they will make the venue explain all their losses and what they did to mitigate them.

DPrescott89

Thanks Bris,

Sounds like i'd be best to tell them to keep the deposit and jump ship as I wouldn't be overly confident of them picking up a December booking

We are yet to tell them of our intentions, is there a tried and tested letter to send on? I found a link earlier but it was dead.

pinkshoes

DPrescott89 wrote: »

Thanks Bris,

Sounds like i'd be best to tell them to keep the deposit and jump ship as I wouldn't be overly confident of them picking up a December booking

We are yet to tell them of our intentions, is there a tried and tested letter to send on? I found a link earlier but it was dead.

??????? Seriously???????????

Just tell them to re-advertise the date. If they rebook your date, then only expenses can be deducted e.g. Advertising costs etc...

bod1467

pinkshoes wrote: »

Just tell them to re-advertise the date. If they rebook your date, then only expenses can be deducted e.g. Advertising costs etc...

... assuming they can resell for the same (or higher) price. If not then OP isn't entitled to a FULL deposit refund - OP would be liable for the difference in price. (The venue would have to show they made reasonable efforts to resell at a market rate - they couldn't just offload it at "mates rates" to someone - if they wanted to keep some or all of the deposit).

Question to the OP ... how does the £4000 deposit relate to the contract price? Is it, ahem, 50% of the contract price perchance?

DPrescott89

It's 25 per cent - which in hindsight looks like a lot of money for a wedding so far away. At the time it was two years, even now it's 18 months.

LilElvis

DPrescott89 wrote: »

Thanks Bris,

Sounds like i'd be best to tell them to keep the deposit and jump ship as I wouldn't be overly confident of them picking up a December booking

We are yet to tell them of our intentions, is there a tried and tested letter to send on? I found a link earlier but it was dead.

The date is 18 months away, not 2 or 3, so there is every likelihood that they can rebook it. I thought the whole point in your cancelling the wedding was because you are short of money and yet you seem quite happy just to throw away several thousand pounds.

DPrescott89

I'm just worried they will come for the other £6,000 because as previously mentioned in my contract that's what it states.

Faith177

Normally the rest of the money isn't due till 12 weeks before the wedding so it gives you a bit of time to play with but ring them and check when your next payment is due to be on the safe side before choosing to cancel