July wedding advice - what are my rights?

cheeseplant22

We have a large scale wedding (80 day guests and 200 evening) booked for 18th July which the venue is saying will go ahead following government guidance yesterday. They have said that there is the possibility that we will have to reduce our numbers but have not mentioned any kind of reimbursement. 

We have already advised that our preference would be to delay the wedding for one or two years to ensure the safety of our guests and suppliers, but they won’t let us do this. We have been offered a mid-week winter wedding this year but have paid for a Saturday summer wedding, so there is a huge price difference. 

Contractually, we can’t cancel ourselves or we will lose all our money. Does anyone know what our rights are in terms of whether they can force us to reduce guest numbers or not? It seems to me that if we can’t have the service we have paid for, the wedding venue would be in breach of consumer rights. And advice would be really helpful as we are very worried at the moment. 

poppy12345

Small weddings are allowed from June 1st but i wouldn't say 80 day time guests and 200 night time ones is a small wedding.

See link and scroll down. https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/coronavirus-outbreak-faqs-what-you-can-and-cant-do/coronavirus-outbreak-faqs-what-you-can-and-cant-do

Dr_Crypto

Nobody knows what the situation will be like in July. The timetable of steps set my the government is only provisional. Germany have already seen an increase in infections. Don't be surprised if the government's plans slip and the venue is forced to cancel. 

gettingtheresometime

Have you paid the final balance, based on your ideal numbers, yet?

if yes, then I'd ask them what would happen in the event of having to scale back the numbers.

then you need to have that all important discussion....do you go ahead with the small wedding or suffer the penalties for effectively cancelling.

Calders86

Hi,
It seems we are in a similar situation to you. Can I ask what the venue is? it seems very similar contractually and how they are behaving. They don't answer our calls, they've furloughed all their planning staff, so we aren't getting the service we have paid for.