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Jessica
Beginner August 2020

Leaving a bad review on the venue we have to use?

Jessica, on November 12, 2019 at 12:06 AM Posted in Wedding Reception 0 18
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I’m really irritated with our venue to the point that I don’t want to use them for our wedding but we’re stuck in a contract with them where regardless of if we get married or not we have to pay them & the owners husband is a county judge in the county where the venue is and she likes to throw that around constantly! Her service and responsiveness is cr*p and she blatantly only cares about getting our money. We put a 10% deposit on a $5000 event and somehow we still have to pay $5265 (with tax) but tax in the state of Virginia is only 5.3% which would be $238.50. When I’ve emailed her previously with questions, she’ll only answer one question from the email (if she responds at all, without me having to email her again a couple times) but when I emailed yesterday and requested to cancel the event (due to financial reasons) she responded within the hour saying we could push the date back a year but our payments were still due on the same date. How is that helping us? I also feel like she makes up rules as she goes along. Initially we were going to cook ourselves and have a couple people that wanted to bring dishes contribute and she said no that’s not allowed. The next time we met my fiancé inquired about it again and she said it was fine but we would have to put signs up saying we made the food in case someone got sick, so they wouldn’t sue the venue. Same basic scenario with the alcohol. I'm extremely unhappy with the way she does business and I don’t know if I can placate for another year until this is all done.

18 Comments

Latest activity by Brianna N, on November 12, 2019 at 10:06 AM
  • Jessica
    Beginner August 2020
    Jessica ·
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    I also forgot to add she’s tried to make it extremely difficult for us to bring in an outside food vendor because she offers food services as well but her prices were far to high for us ($27 for a basic spaghetti plate with one bread stick) and initially wouldn’t tell me the process to get a vendor approved by her. She finally did but now she still hasn’t given me the form for the vendor to fill out even though I’ve asked twice.
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  • Pirate & 60s Bride
    Legend March 2017
    Pirate & 60s Bride ·
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    Many venues do require a professional caterer due to liability.

    However, this seems like a no-win situation. What are the cancellation terms in your contract? Honestly, if you’ll only lose 10%, cut bait and RUN. With the stress of a wedding you don’t need to be fighting a venue the entire time. She seems like she would nickel & dime you guys along the way. Ugh.
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  • Jessica
    Beginner August 2020
    Jessica ·
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    The contract states “should the licensee seek cancellation of the license agreement due to “necessitous circumstances” licensor in lieu of a refund may allow licensee to rebook another date within one year of original date.” Cancellation of the license event after seven days of the contract date requires all payments be made regardless of “necessitous circumstances” outside of the licensee’s control. So basically our house could burn down and we would still have to pay them for the wedding.
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  • Pirate & 60s Bride
    Legend March 2017
    Pirate & 60s Bride ·
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    Craaaap. I think you’re stuck. 😫 I wouldn’t write a review right now because that might create more drama for your wedding day. But can you go see her in person and ask all your questions at once? And then get everything in writing.
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  • Jessica
    Beginner August 2020
    Jessica ·
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    I will probably have to at some point I guess We’re just at a point now where we don’t even want to do a bar so as not to give her anymore money (more so my fiancé than me, I feel bad not having one) but I feel like people that get into this business care about giving people a good experience and witnessing their happiness and I want her to have that burden (if she even feels any of that) of knowing that she’s ruined my experience.
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  • Pirate & 60s Bride
    Legend March 2017
    Pirate & 60s Bride ·
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    Have you met with her in person? I can only hope she’d mellow out? Maybe pray or send happy thoughts her way??? An exorcism maybe? 🤣
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  • Ashley
    Dedicated September 2021
    Ashley ·
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    This does not sound like a pleasant experience at all. That said all the information about the food and bar should also be in the contract. It would seem that this contract is really tight if you are held responsible for the whole price no matter the circumstance, so i would expect everything else to be spelled out in the contract as well. The only options are use the facility or lose the money, if you have to use the facility let her know your concerns. You wedding is still a little ways away and If I were in your shoes I would ask for a meeting and go over everything in detail. Show up with a million and questions, leave no room for assumptions. I'm not sure what type of venue you have but who was your point of contact when you signed the contract? If it was someone other than this person reach out to them.

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  • M
    Expert September 2020
    Marcia ·
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    I agree with calling a face to face meeting. Make a list of very specific questions and get the answers you deserve. If you can’t trust her to keep her word, record the meeting on your phone or keep notes and ask her to sign and date them after the meeting.

    is this a venue that has been in business a long time?
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  • V
    Champion July 2019
    Veronica ·
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    The first thing I would say is that you signed the contract so you knew what you were agreeing to as you should have read it. If you didn't read it or question that particular clause before you signed it then that was unfortunately a mistake on your part. Because you signed the contract you've agreed to their terms and that's one of their terms. Also, most venues offer their own food or require a professional cater for liability reasons which is probably why she has made it difficult. Our venue also required that we pay a certain percentage if we cancelled the event. As the event got closer the percentage increased. Honestly it sounds like you agreed to things that you shouldn't have. Also, everything about the food and beverages should have been in the contract or you shouldn't have signed it. We created a special menu for our wedding and before we agreed to sign a contract we asked them to include the custom menu in the contract so that there were no questions or concerns later on.
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  • Jessica
    Beginner August 2020
    Jessica ·
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    I should have known Veronica, there’s always one in every forum and today it’s you. Food and alcohol are both a separate contract each from the venue. I feel that I am allowed to get disgruntled with the service I am paying for, it is after all still customer service. I’m also making a point that she has no commons decency, while I understand what the contract says about canceling. We are now going to have to get a loan to pay for this wedding because she won’t even push the payment due dates back. Life happens I can’t account for every expensive thing that we now have to fix from when we picked the venue. Having a car with a working transmission and a roof on my house are vastly more important to me than a big wedding venue. So thank you for the lack of insight
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  • V
    Champion July 2019
    Veronica ·
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    I wasn't trying to upset you and I'm sorry that I have. I just meant that because you signed the contract with those terms that you are now bound by them. I was telling you from my experience what we did since our venue was the one providing the food. It should have been in your contract that you are allowed to provide your own food and beverage, but unfortunately it doesn't sound like it was. I agree it is wrong that she won't push back the payments or even attempt to help you out. It sounds like they are in this solely for the money and that their contact allows for them to be this way. That is 100% wrong, but legally they can do this because you agreed to it. I totally understand being upset because I lost my job 3 months prior to the wedding and if we had cancelled the wedding we would have lost a lot of money too.
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  • Kaleigh
    Dedicated September 2020
    Kaleigh ·
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    Contact the Better Business Bureau!
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  • Jessica
    Beginner August 2020
    Jessica ·
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    I apologize I’m just so stressed and upset and this and it does say I’m the contract we can have outside vendors but it just says there are stipulations and the vendor has to be approved by her but she not being forthcoming about the information to do that. Same with alcohol she said the up charge us if we buy it from them but won’t give an exact price even though we told her specifically what we want. I just want to go ahead and leave a public “professional but eloquent review now so she knows how we feel now instead of waiting a year and playing nice. I don’t think she could possibly be any worse if we did but I want her to know we’re miserable.
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  • Jessica
    Beginner August 2020
    Jessica ·
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    Will they do anything since there is a contract? Essentially it’s going to be a crappy service complaint
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  • V
    Champion July 2019
    Veronica ·
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    We filed a compliment with the BBC because I received the wrong wedding dress and they did nothing. They said we were bound to take the dress because we signed a contract. They might help you out though so it is worth a try. The company we bought the dress from went out of business a few months after we bought the dress. It is ridiculous that she is being this way and won't give you answers. Does she have a supervisor or someone you could talk to?
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  • Jessica
    Beginner August 2020
    Jessica ·
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    She and her husband (the judge) own it but he lets her run it. I wouldn’t even waste my time contacting him.
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  • V
    Champion July 2019
    Veronica ·
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    Oh well that certainly doesn't help. I would try the BBC, but I didn't have any luck. I hope you do though Smiley smile
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  • Brianna N
    Super October 2019
    Brianna N ·
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    I wouldn't leave a review now, as she/they may see it and it could cause even more problems/drama then you have now. Definitely wait until after the wedding or after the contract is cancelled, whichever you do. Sorry you are dealing with this.

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