Wedding Change 1 February 2022 at 8:42PM in Marriage, relationships & families 10 replies 762 views

TwoUpTwoDown

Hi all

Getting married a week Saturday.
Got a message from the venue today saying that room we were going to be using for reception is not available now as building work is running behind and we can use ceremony room for reception instead.
We were told there would be building work going on over Xmas but was in no way told it would be a risk when we looked round the venue and would be complete well before our wedding.
The way the email was worded made it sound like we were always going to be in a different room, but looking at our invoice from December it states the original reception room and we would never have booked with the other room as its just too small to hold a reception properly. It's smaller by 40 people and doesn't accommodate our numbers.

We are pretty annoyed at this but I guess if building work is incomplete, we probably can't go in from a health and safety point of view...

Just not sure how to reply. It's too late to change venue now and my partner is obviously really upset as we've been planning the evening based on the original space. She's put a lot of work in to decorations etc...

How would you go about contacting them? Part of me just wants to get annoyed and insist they make it ready or at least safe. 

The other part of me knows it will probably get me nowhere but we feel like we've been totally shafted with only 10 days notice.

The wedding is fully paid up and guests have all been confirmed.

Thank you

SootySweep1

Hi

I'd organise a meeting at the venue asap so you can discuss what adjustments can be made for your wedding.

I do realise that you are upset & worried but I'd hope that they still want your day to be special so give them a chance.

Jen

TwoUpTwoDown

Thanks Jen

 I do hope they have that intention but I feel that not even a call to discuss and a short email was a bit cold by them.
Right now my partner is wondering whether to go ahead at all with things but guess it's the emotion.
I agree we need to get to the venue ASAP to sort things out though. 

TwoUpTwoDown

I think it's worth saying that the other room they want us to use is the other end of the venue so the eating and seated area will no longer be in the same space as the dance floor, essentially splitting the evening in half.

sallysaver

I think it's absolutely disgraceful that you have been treated in this way.  10 days notice to hopefully what will be the best day of your lives, changed and via  an email notification.  How gutless.  They will know, that nowhere at this late stage will be able to accommodate you.  I agree with SootySweep, ring and make an appointment with the person you have seen the most regarding the booking arrangement and go and see them face to face.  Trust me, they really won't want to face you and you are looking for re-inbursement as you are not getting what is booked and paid for.  Honestly, I can hardly believe that a business would act like this, they obviously knew the works wouldn't be finished in time.

TBagpuss

sallysaver said:

I think it's absolutely disgraceful that you have been treated in this way.  10 days notice to hopefully what will be the best day of your lives, changed and via  an email notification.  How gutless.  They will know, that nowhere at this late stage will be able to accommodate you.  I agree with SootySweep, ring and make an appointment with the person you have seen the most regarding the booking arrangement and go and see them face to face.  Trust me, they really won't want to face you and you are looking for re-inbursement as you are not getting what is booked and paid for.  Honestly, I can hardly believe that a business would act like this, they obviously knew the works wouldn't be finished in time.

Well, we don't know that they knw - it's likely a massive headache for them, they re probably embarrassed. It's entirely possible that the builders have had issues with supplies and/or people being off sick and it's run late as a result of that.

I agree that going n person t look at the rom and try to work out how it can be made to work is the best option.

Sadly at this late stage moving the venue is likely to be very difficult so your best bet is probably going to be to focus on how it can be made to work. You can certainly ask whether there is any possibility of their making the room safe.

While you hadn't wanted to have the meal and dancefloor in separate rooms you may find that this works well for your guests , especially if you can negotiate with the venue to ensure that you have use of both rooms for the full event - often, you will have some people who would like to be able to sit and chat in between dancing, so having a separate, quieter room can be great, and  you can still encourage everyone to come to see the first dance even if not everyone then stays on the dance floor afterwards. 

sallyardley

That is so shocking! Definitely have a meeting with them and tell them they need to sort out an alternative since they can't fulfil the original booking. They surely will be able to find a way! 

thegreenone

I agree with above to go and see what the event planner at the venue has to offer.  Keep calm and see how they are intending to accommodate your wedding. Discuss that this is not what you had agree to and what they can offer to compensate for that. Again keep calm.

I agree with TBagpuss above that having a quiet room may be good (we had one at our wedding), particularly if you have older guests who may want to chat rather than dance.  Some younger people may want to have a drink and rest between dancing.

You will have a fabulous wedding.  

sheramber

At my son's wedding we ate in one room  and moved to another room for the dancing afterwards. It did not cause any problems and nobody commented on it.

At mu nephew's wedding we had to adjourn to the bar while the tables were cleared and the room readied for the dancing.

pinkshoes

TwoUpTwoDown said:

I think it's worth saying that the other room they want us to use is the other end of the venue so the eating and seated area will no longer be in the same space as the dance floor, essentially splitting the evening in half.

Are you meeting with them today?

If they have offered you another room that is smaller and too small for all your guests that they really isn't acceptable. A separate room would perhaps be ok, but NOT one at the other side of the venue. I wouldn't want guests having to traipse back and forth just to go and dance. 

Building work often runs over, so if they are offering a room as a wedding venue, they needed to make sure they had a sensible back up plan e.g. a BIGGER or NICER room to offer if you cannot have the original room.

I would be negotiating hard with them about a HUGE discount, or seeing if any other venues have availability at such short notice and making them pay the difference!

sallysaver

Building contracts almost always have a time penalty clause built into them if they arn't using Bob the Builder from down the road.

I have no idea how long these renovations have been going on or even what the time schedule was,  but I'm sure they knew after a month how far they were behind and  whether there was a possibility of 'catching up' etc or indeed falling further behind as time went on.  Perhaps one could point the finger at the site manager, but ultimiately he may well have kept the venue up to date and in any case, your contract is with the Venue not the Building company, site manager, or general foreman  To leave it 10 days before a wedding date, is, in my opinion an absolute disgrace.  I couldn't agree more with pink shoes, be polite and calm (if you can) but hard negotitioning is the only way forward.  I really feel for you.