covid cancellation question

There's a lot of false positives which would mean also that these would happen for people with other sickness. but it is the early stages of sickness (just before getting bad) that infection might be shared. I think most people who are concerned about severe covid sickness have gotten shots done. So that is a consideration for keeping with the original plans. I hope they are feeling well really quickly. It is horrible moment to get sick. Sorry to hear about such bad timing.

Its worth speaking to the vendors - we have events at my work (actually we do have a wedding here this afternoon) and although we have a strict non-refundable contract in place we do use our discretion to help the customer out if its possible financially for us. For instance if we know somebody else wants the same date or if we were struggling with staff cover etc we might gladly accept a cancellation.

No harm in speaking to them about it!

I'd definitely say she should contact the vendor to see if they'd be willing to either bump their service a week so she could still use them or give some kind of discount. A lot of places have clauses in their contracts like that, but many are willing to be flexible for anything covid-related.

The practices you mention are commendable. A vendor should not have a replacement customer for the same time period and still charge you for canceling. I see the downpayment (or full payment) as the way of securing the time. If it is a caterer, there might need be keeping some compensation for food already bought.