Feeling pressured to sign contract with venue

I have been looking for reception venues, and my fiancé and I have been in contact with a wedding specialist at a Hotel. At first she seemed really nice and professional, and was responsive to emails.Eventually, she drew a contract and asked us to sign it. Our ceremony will be held at a church, and we are having a hard time finding a date that is suitable for both the church and reception venue. So before we sign that contract , we wanted to first make sure we actually have a date. She told us that we only had one more day to sign and she sounded really annoyed at us for not signing right away.

Another strange thing is, in one of our phone conversation, she did mention that the hotel would give us a discounted block of rooms for our guests. I made sure to let her know that my fiancé and I would not want to pay for the remainder cost of these rooms in case there aren’t enough guests to book all of those rooms, and that we expect the guests to pay for their own rooms if they wish to book them. On the phone, she assured me that we would not have to cover these costs. However, after reading the contract it says that my fiancé and I are responsible for the full cost of these rooms... I pointed that out in an email, and she said that, as she told me before during our conversation, we would not be responsible for that cost. My question is, then why does the contract say otherwise? She says that the contract needs our immediate signature and says that if we don’t sign right away, she would release the ballroom. I told her that it is fine, and she can go ahead and release the ballroom if there is a need, and that unfortunately we cannot sign any agreement until we are very comfortable with all the terms and most importantly until we have an actual date that aligns with the ceremony at church. I am actively contacting all churches in the neighborhood to find appropriate time slots and day, unfortunately it might take a couple more days for them to respond. With that being said, the wedding package she is offering is good, and I like the venue. However, I am feeling really pressured right now into signing this contract. I understand that the venue wants to close the deal, but I don’t see why there is a rush into having us signing a contract when the date is not clear. Now, I am no lawyer, but I think that a signed contract has more power that a phone conversation or an email.

Am I being unreasonable? Has anyone had to go through this?


I am considering looking at other hotels. My fiancé and I really wanted to work with her and have our wedding at this place, plus it is very stressful to have to keep looking for other venues. Our wedding is less than 6 months away (hoping to have it in April), and we still haven’t locked down a venue. However, I am uneasy at the thought of having to deal with her in the future for our very important day (since she has already been annoyed with us). What would you do?