Coronavirus and rescheduled weddings

So most venues have a clause in their contracts that says they keep the deposit even if you have to cancel the event because of an act of god - I think its called a force majeure clause, but my dad is the lawyer not I. Check your contracts, but I would assume that your venue will yell you that you can move the wedding or not get your deposit back. They have to still make some money too, as much as it sucks. But it also wasn't their fault that the pandemic is cancelling events right and left! See what your contract says and try to stay positive - most venues are rescheduling without charge because no one has ever really dealt with this before.

View Quoted Comment Yeah, they said I can reschedule but I don't get my money back if I cancel. Just seems like we may have to push it to 2021, maybe even longer. Woof.

View Quoted Comment A lot of brides are having small weddings now and then the big event next year. It may be something you can consider if you want to be married on your original date but also keep the bigger wedding. We postponed our wedding from 4/4 to 8/15, and we eloped on our original date with a zoom call. Not ideal, but there are ways to make it work! I'm so sorry you're dealing with this. Just know it'll be ok and we'll get through this.

View Quoted Comment Thank you! Our original date was May 16 and we rescheduled for late November. We just aren't sure if we will be able to have it. Our plan C is to get married on our dating anniversary in Oct. But I suppose we will have a large party at some point, but then I just feel like it would be so stupid of me to wear my dress. Ugh I'm so sad about my dress. congrats on your marriage!!

View Quoted Comment Thank you! Yeah, I feel you. I told my husband if we have to postpone again then we'll do a smaller event with just our family. 🤷‍♀️ I just don't want to drag out getting married for another year, you know? The reason we postponed was wanting our family there and everything being paid off already, so we feel like we might as well just call off the big event if we have to reschedule. We're feeling good though. Our original event was 40 folks though, so we should be pretty safe.

Well legally no you shouldn't be getting your money back...however due to corona virus its up to the vendor if they choose to do so. During these times it will be very nice if they did gave money back. My contract is the same we broke it of course bc we cancelled due to the virus. Vendor agreed to give me money back still didnt receive it. However now I can sue if wanting to bc of a new written agreement but I'll give it some time. I know times are hard but. Yet we need our money back soon. Good luck i hope it works out

It's highly unlikely that you will ever get a refund on a non-refundable deposit. You should be able to reschedule, but if you decide to cancel, you forfeit that deposit.

View Quoted Comment Thank you!

As others have said, typically you have to reschedule in order to not completely lose your money. But with it being a non-refundable deposit, it is just that, non-refundable. You could always have a small ceremony now and reschedule with your venue later for a large reception with family and friends if you do not want to wait until 2021 to get married.

That is correct! I did not have an act of God clause in my contract but my contract states the deposit is non refundable and will be forfeited upon cancellation. My venue would not work with me OR ANY OTHER VENDOR. Not just my venue but all vendors except for 1 (which was my backdrop rental). Its up to the vendor to be willing to work with you, my venue worked with me only in the aspect of postponing. They were going to withhold the deposit even if we changed the date but would waive it and allow us to postpone. Even though its not our fault we have to cancel its still a cancellation in itself.

View Quoted Comment Wow, I'm so sorry your vendors and venue wasn't that accommodating. Yes, all of my vendors and venue did say that I can reschedule and move the deposit. If this happens again in Nov we don't know if we will move ahead with the wedding so we may just cancel at that point. It hurts my body to know we may be giving away thousands of dollars and no service was rendered. We don't have a force majure in any of of contracts. I understand they need money too, but I would think at least half of something refunded especially since it's legally unable to happen and not my choice of cancelation. That would be my business practice. If I elope I now have to shell out more money for another venue. Ladies (well you can't now) but now I see why they said wedding insurance! Ugh. Seriously, who would have thought this would happen to us??

View Quoted Comment You know what, I dont think virus is even covered by wedding insurance. Someone can correct me if im wrong but insurance only covers cancellations due to weather and injury/illness/death of you or your fiancé. The only vendor that I fully cancelled was my makeup artist and she wouldn’t refund my deposits. I asked to refund 50% of the deposit and the answer was no.


And I literally feel exactly the same as you! My April wedding postponed. We were planning to elope in June and have formal ceremony and reception in October. We are still deciding on eloping in the backyard in june or not but if we have to postpone or cancel in October we may not postpone again I think thats it and we will fully cancel.

I'm so sorry that you ladies have to go through this. I am in the same boat. It is refreshing to know that their are others who are in the same situation. Dana, all my vendors would not give my deposit back if I cancelled, except for my photographer. She is the sweetest and said she would refund my deposit if my future date didn't work out with her or if we decided to cancel all together. But all the others said if I cancel that would cause me not being able to get the non-refundable deposit back, but switching the date would be no issue. We weren't able to get a new date until January 2021 from our venue. So we are actually doing a backyard ceremony this Saturday in my fiance's mom's backyard. My maid of honor who is an attorney is marrying us and will be there along with our parents and siblings and their kiddos. We are ordering some bbq, having a small cake, and swimming in the pool after. It just stinks that we have to wait almost a whole year to have the formal ceremony and event with our family and friends. But we are holding out. I really want to wear my dress and have spent so much money in decor and things already that I can't see cancelling. I just look at it as renewing our vows in January. Who would of thought we would be in this predicament when we got engaged! I hope things work out for all of you ladies whatever you choose to do!!