Wedding Event Cancellation 11 February at 6:08AM in Consumer rights 38 replies 2.7K views

darkerknight

We had our wedding ceremony and reception booked and paid for in a popular London venue. It was booked and an advance paid autumn last year for an event date of 8 July 2023. A few weeks back they cancelled it outright without providing a good reason and any alternative options or dates. The reason they say is unavailability of the priest. I have asked them many times but they are adamant regarding the cancellation. 

We are distraught and angry at this mysterious cancellation. Although they have agreed to refund the advance fees, we had booked 100s of £££ of air tickets for family members for the date. What are my consumer rights for getting compensation for the flight tickets? 

Poquito

Hi Darkerknight

im really sorry to hear that this happened to you regarding your wedding. Something similar happened to me whereby our reception, a central London venue, cancelled our reception. 

Before spending any money on any suppliers or vendors it is always advised to get Wedding Insurance which is inexpensive compared to potential losses. Weddings are booked so far in advance you just never know what could happen. Did you purchase insurance?

Luckily in our situation the venue helped us to find another venue, and negotiated on things we had booked as part of our reception package so we didn’t have to claim on our insurance, but it was definitely our first purchase.

Can you not try and arrange another venue for the date. I know it’s short notice but might this still be possible? Many London hotels for example have ballrooms/event rooms, is this an option. 

Hoping all is not lost and you are able to salvage this situation.

i feel for you as it’s gutting when this happens. Hoping you can find an alternative 🤞

soolin

Sorry to hear about your wedding plans. 

It’s going to be an insurance job if it is specifically covered by any policy you may have. As it’s London though you have the possibility of finding an alternative, I don’t think it will be easy and I suspect you will spend a lot of time and energy doing so, but it’s got to be worth a try. Perhaps look at the outskirts of London, somewhere reached by public transport from whatever airport you have booked for your relatives. 

Good luck.

Robin9

The unavailability of a priest does sound to be a lame excuse -  is there something deeper going on.?

Still plenty of time to arrange a registry office and a venue

HillStreetBlues

Robin9 said:

The unavailability of a priest does sound to be a lame excuse -  is there something deeper going on.?

Without a doubt,  a venue isn't going to give up a a booking for that reason.
Much more likely someone  has offer more money for that date.

powerful_Rogue

darkerknight said:

We had our wedding ceremony and reception booked and paid for in a popular London venue. It was booked and an advance paid autumn last year for an event date of 8 July 2023. A few weeks back they cancelled it outright without providing a good reason and any alternative options or dates. The reason they say is unavailability of the priest. I have asked them many times but they are adamant regarding the cancellation. 

We are distraught and angry at this mysterious cancellation. Although they have agreed to refund the advance fees, we had booked 100s of £££ of air tickets for family members for the date. What are my consumer rights for getting compensation for the flight tickets? 

Virtually nil I would say.

Have you phoned around other venues? Have you cancelled the family coming over? Have you had a partial refund from the airline company?

pinkshoes

If you had pulled out at this date, what would have been the penalty to you? What does your contract say about them cancelling? Usually contracts have to be fair e.g. they can't have you paying huge penalties for cancelling then nothing for them doing the same. 

A priest is not available? Why can't they just get another priest??

You need to mitigate your loses and find yourself another venue for the wedding. Surely you're still going to get married? The people are more important than a venue. 

If you find something similar but it is more expensive, then it might be worth asking the original venue for some "compensation" towards it due to them letting you down just months before the wedding. If they refuse, then this is your opportunity to leave online FACTUAL feedback in as many places as possible letting others know how unreliable they are. Negative factual reviews will probably cost them far more in the long run, but don't blackmail them over this!

ThumbRemote

I thought that civil ceremonies for weddings were not allowed to include religious elements, so I don't understand why you'd have a priest unless you were being married in a church. 

p00hsticks

ThumbRemote said:

I thought that civil ceremonies for weddings were not allowed to include religious elements, so I don't understand why you'd have a priest unless you were being married in a church. 

The OP simply refers to a 'venue', not a civil ceremony. and although in this country 'priest' is most commonly associated with the Roman Catholic Church, it can also refer to a celebrant in any other number of religions and is not necessarily indicative that we are talking about a Christian church service here .....

sheramber

Who was organising the priest? Did you not arrange it with him?

It seems odd for a hotel to arrange a priest for someone's wedding. Surely the persons being married have to discuss it with the priest.

km1500

The first thing you should do is look at the contract you have with the venue and their terms and conditions.

What does it say about cancellations - either you cancelling or them cancelling?

Please cut and paste the exact wording here