How do I tell guests that our wedding had been postponed?

There was another bride on here recently who had a similar issue (can't remember her name at the moment), she got her lawyer involved and they refunded her money and I believe more for the inconvenience.

Wow I'm so angry for you!! If you have a lot of out of town guest this may tough. I would definitely personally call them first and find out how many of them have purchased tickets already find out if its refundable and explain the situation to them. But see if you can find another venue like pp have said some may have cancellations, see if you can have it on a Sunday September 4th as opposed to Saturday.

Your first venue should definitely be held accountable re-read your contract. Demand they help you find or cover the difference for a new venue. They should definitely offer something along with a full refund bc they're completely at fault. Let them know you'll be contacting a lawyer, writing reviews for then in every review site you can.

As PPs have stated get a lawyer involved ASAP. You and your guests are losing a TON of money on this - it's so close to your date!! You will likely have to pay all your vendors anyway and pay AGAIN for your wedding! Absolutely OUTRAGEOUS. How are they just now figuring out they have two weddings on the same day? Are they THAT disorganized? Raise hell with them.

I would also try to find a new venue. Your out of town guests likely have flights and hotels that cannot be changed at this point. They've also already taken the time off of work, etc. Places may have cancellations or you could do a Friday or Sunday instead of the Saturday.

Good luck and keep us posted!

Yeah I would have to figure something out. I would feel way too bad for people traveling all that way. What about changing the day? If you were supposed to get married on Saturday maybe switch it to Friday or Sunday? I know thats not ideal but could work if the venue has either of those dates?

@Centerpieces has some great, solid advice. They should not have accepted and cashed your deposit check before they checked their calendar. That is 100% on them. They need to be the ones to fix this, because I know that it is not cheap for your guests to fly in from Australia, and I am sure they will be charged for change of dates. So I would raise hell with them and explain the implications they have caused you. I am sure that they hope that you will just go away, and not read your contract, but you need to! I would threaten their credibility at that point, and tell them that I plan to post a review of my experience on every wedding website as well as go to the media. Then get a lawyer involved if need be. Most people would be willing to work with you at that point, as they don;t want their business slandered. As much as I hate to say that, I do believe that this is one time where being rude and nasty is acceptable. Please keep us posted on what happens!

Thank you guys so much for your advice and kind words! We are in Upstate SC with about 85 guests-and our lawyer says we have a case! The venue has offered to keep what we have already paid (the ENTIRE THING has already been paid for!) for another date, but I'm not sure how I feel about that!!

Honestly at this point I don't feel comfortable and am somewhat afraid to try and find another venue for the original date; the previous venue was all-inclusive and so now we have no vendors besides a florist! My fiancé and I are trying to stay as calm as we can, and I keep telling myself that everything happens for a reason! If we do receive a full refund, we will be able to afford a home much sooner than we would have been. That itself is a blessing, so maybe God knew what we needed before we did.

Would it be possible to change to a Friday or Sunday wedding?

They offered to keep your full deposit and change the date? Efff no. That is not a generous offer. When did they notify you of this error?

Their offer is not nearly good enough. They are hoping you're a pushover. Ask them about another day that weekend. Also demand that they help you find another venue of equal value for that same weekend. If they are all inclusive i.e. catering this event as well, they should have realized their error before now. Demand better treatment than what you are getting.

Your guests probably can't afford to just eat the flight cost and I wouldn't expect them to rebook either. That's too much money. You can make this weekend work with a few adjustments. It may not be everything you envisioned, but your guests will appreciate not having to pay for multiple round trip tickets.

You need to be tough and push for them to make something work for that weekend. Round trip tickets from Australia can be thousands of dollars. Get the local news involved, look at a more non traditional venue. You are way too calm and just postponing until May is not a good solution!

Ok, so what about doing the Friday or Sunday? It's a holiday weekend. You could still pull that off. (I know this, because that Sunday is my date. haha)

I'd be really upset for your international guests if they're out travel expenses..... Make sure your lawyer is aware of that too, so if you change dates, they get refunded too.

Don't let them just push you to another date. NOT acceptable.

MayBride is right; they are hoping you will accept their terms, keep quiet, and let them get away with highway robbery/screwing you over. This is an unacceptable way to conduct business and I will be cheering for you!!

They will absolutely refund you. They don't want a bad wrap but being that we also have a lot of people coming from out of the country, I would find another venue ASAP. I would hate to have everyone come here for no reason as they all already bought tickets. I don't know how easy it will be because it is a holiday weekend. Our venue is booked completely. Busy weekend for weddings.

Tell them they need to refund you, and then find somewhere to at least have a small reception for your out of town guests. Keep your wedding date. It won't be everything that you want it to be, but you need to put your guests first at this point.

I wouldn't be on here posting but instead look over your contract and start calling people and what not ... I'd check w your venue to ... That's there fault not yours ...

OP, you said you're in upstate SC. Eastern or Western SC? I can suggest venues in Western NC if that is nearish to you.

I am so, so, sorry this has happened to you. It's just awful. But if there is any way you can look for another venue for the same day, I would. I realize it may be far fetched, but it can't hurt to try. My husband and I have a wedding on September 3. We have both already taken off work, bought our plane tickets, and reserved the car and the hotel. While we could just cancel the hotel, we would be out of luck on the plane tickets. If what happened to you happened to his cousin, I wouldn't as a guest BLAME them as this isn't' their fault, but I would at least like to know they tried for another option before they just canceled. We'd be out at least $850. I'm not trying to sound selfish, but that amount of money to be wasted would hurt us.

Good for you, on all counts.

"We are happy to announce that our wedding plans, though changed logistically, are still in our very near future. Apologies for any inconvenience and we look forward to celebrating our marriage with you on May xx, 2017. Thank you for your understanding. Love PU and her FH."

Listen to your attorney - this is TOTALLY on the old venue. Threatening to get media involved is also a good negotiating tactic - journalists would love to put a sobbing bride in the 'community interest' segment of the 6pm news.

Even if you do find a new venue, make sure your old one is covering ALL associated costs. If the only venue available was far from where your guests are flying into/staying, for instance, make the original venue pay for a shuttle to transport them to the new site. Likewise, the old venue should pay any price difference between their cost and the cost of the new venue and vendors.