Coronavirus Wedding

rebahc

I am not sure if this is the right place to post or if someone could share some guidance!

My partner and I were due to get married in August this year, we decided to cancel following announcement of the new guidelines and the continued uncertainty! We looked at postponing but unfortunate it is not an option. 
All of our suppliers and venue have been great with refunds, transferable deposits etc. Barring our caterers, we paid an initial payment and are asking for a partial refund due to the circumstances and not being able to access the service due to current guidelines. They are point blank refusing saying we have exceeded the initial payment (by over half!?). 

I have read so much online on consumer rights and CMA guidance for businesses during the pandemic but I just cannot work our if we are entitled to something, as a result of cancelling because of Coronavirus or if I should take it as it is and move on!

Can anyone help or share some advice?!

Aylesbury_Duck

The way you describe it's you that's cancelling, so I don't see that your caterers are automatically obliged to refund you.  They can't withhold money beyond their reasonable costs and given that we're less than two months from the date, it's reasonable to assume they won't be able to secure replacement customers for the date in question.  I also infer they're separate to the venue, so the new guidelines restrict the venue, not the caterers.  It's not the caterer's fault if the venue's capacity has been reduced, for example. 

How much were you originally paying them, to cater for how many?  And how much have you paid to date?  Do you have wedding insurance?