Coronavirus Wedding Issues

dannyrst

Hi all, just after some advice and thoughts on what to do about our wedding please.

We booked our wedding for 17th July 2020 early last year. We have contacted our venue to move the wedding date because we don't believe we'll be able to get married on that date. The venue have been incredibly difficult to deal with throughout but we eventually agreed on a new date of 16th July 2021, and have a new contract for that date. However, the new contract has changed the wording and they require full payment this month. I'm not sure how I'm supposed to have number of guests and all the details of what people are eating etc more than a year in advance of the wedding?? That seems unfair, we have already paid 50% deposit. The other reason I don't want to pay 100% now is because the registrars office are not accepting new bookings and are working through date order to re-book people affected. They are currently working on April dates still, so we are far down the list. I don't want to pay the estimated full cost for our wedding just to find out in 2 or 3 weeks time that there is no registrar on our new date to actually have the wedding.

Does anyone have any suggestions on what approach to take? I can't ring our venue unfortunately because they're working from home and won't give me a number to ring them on, so I'm trying to sort everything out via e-mail which makes things much tougher.

Thanks

kazwookie

Send them an email, asking them to call you, make sure you include your number.

At this stage, personally I wouldn't be paying for anything up front, as they may not be in business in 6 months time, let alone 1 year from now.

dannyrst

I've tried that, they won't call me either. Would have made the whole thing much easier if they just would!

If they demand the money or they won't move the wedding date, I assume we have no recourse because we won't enter a new contract with them?

I don't mind the venue going out of business, but the wedding insurers...a little more so!

dannyrst

The above maybe reads a little wrong, I obviously don't want the venue to go out of business because our wedding is there. What I meant was in terms of the safety of our money, if the venue were to go out of business, we have insurance to cover us. We have nothing to fall back on if the insurance company go out of business.

maman

I think insurance companies going out of business is covered by financial services legislation. 
Personally I'd email a brief explanation of your reasoning (like the registrar and contacting guests} to the venue.  Nearer the 2020 date they'll have to cancel and your insurance should kick in.
It might be worth talking to the insurance company. 
Sorry can't be more definitive but don't know the venue Ts & Cs or the details of your policy. 
Good luck. 😉

onwards&upwards

You might have jumped the gun a bit by calling to rearrange so soon.  If they’d cancelled I think you might have more rights. 

dannyrst

I guess the reason we were so quick off the blocks was to ensure we actually got a date for 2021. I've emailed them and asked how we're supposed to pay in full when we can't possibly know the full wedding details now it's been pushed back. Anything can happen in that timeframe. I'm also not comfortable spending so much when jobs etc are unsafe (girlfriend is waiting to start a new job but can't start yet due to current situation).

Will see what they come back with. I guess I'm mostly looking from a legal perspective at whether a change of date should result in a brand new contract with new terms or not. I've read the original contract and it says there is a fee to change date (happy to pay) but doesn't mention anything about signing a new contract or anything about them being able to change all the terms.

maman

Does it say anything about what happens if they have to cancel?

CarbonImage

Remember it is a negotiation like any other business deal. You don't have to accept their terms. They probably want to retain you as a client. It may even be an honest mistake on their part. Just say something like 'I'm not happy to agree to the revised contract in regards to the payment schedule. Please can you honour the original payment terms as we are unable to pay the full balance this far in advance.'
If they refuse, say that you are happy to leave the original date as planned and see what they say. The idea of this is to force their hand into cancelling for you so that you can get your deposit back via insurance. 
I understand it can be daunting but wedding suppliers often take advantage of people's naivety by trying to force you into agreeing unreasonable terms. Don't fall for it and stay confident. If you seem like you know what you're talking about they are much more likely to be flexible.

Source: I am an account director for an event production company and currently planning my own wedding where I've successfully negotiated lots of contract amendments and charges being waived.