Wedding supplier refund

welshie113

I have a wedding booked in 2026 and I have been advised by my venue to cancel my wedding caterer and request a refund for the deposit paid. They have recently had big issues with the caterer and aren’t happy to have him on site. The caterers standards have dropped massively and they have not shown up to a wedding recently. The caterer is refusing to give my deposit back even though on the invoice and all correspondence it doesn’t say non refundable and they have 2 years to fill the date. Do I have a leg to stand on I’m requesting the refund if I take it further?

DullGreyGuy

Deposits by their definition are non-refundable else they dont serve their purpose... it should be called out if they are refundable rather than the other way around. 

How much was the deposit? What do the terms say about cancellations?

Given its circa 2 years away the caterers standards could move notably in either direction over that time. 

What are the terms of the venue? Does it give them vetting rights on your suppliers?

welshie113

The deposit was £700. There was no contract signed with the caterers the only written confirmation was an invoice with the deposit shown as paid. The venue were in partnership with them but have since cancelled this leaving a very awkward situation 

DullGreyGuy

welshie113 said:

The deposit was £700. There was no contract signed with the caterers the only written confirmation was an invoice with the deposit shown as paid. 

So have you told them you wish to cancel and asked about the return of the deposit? 

Would always suggest getting terms before paying on something so far in the future and therefore will always have a prospect of having to be cancelled/changed.

welshie113

Yes told them we wish to cancel and explained the circumstances but they are unwilling to refund and still want to go ahead with the booking. Definitely learnt my lesson not getting a contract prior to sending money 

DullGreyGuy

I'd suggest you use the "report" flag and ask that the thread gets moved to the consumer rights section, it gets massively more visitors and posters than here. 

Ultimately you'd have to argue its unfair contract terms as the cost is disproportional to the losses. Historically the courts hated fixed costs for contract breaching/ending contracts rather than actual losses but at least in the B2B world they have become more accepting that there are benefits to both sides -v- the uncertainty of having to substantiate losses. Obviously this isn't a B2B contract and consumers have more protections

What others may be able to help with is how you'd substantiate what the returned amount should be. It's unlikely to be the full £700 as inevitably they will have to spend time/costs to resell the date and have administration costs in processing the whole thing.