Our wedding venue unfortunately went back on their contract with us four weeks ago. It was devastating because it had been at a favorite restaurant of ours - somewhere we went on a monthly basis and told everyone we knew that they had to go. Thankfully, we did manage to secure a new venue (even though we're only four months away!), but there has been some discussion among my friends and family about whether or not this is legal, so I wanted to get some opinions.
We started planning with them in November 2018 (because I like to plan ahead), but didn't secure a contract until October 2019. It was slow going because they'd lost their event planner, and had temporarily put their restaurant manager in the role. The contract was signed and deposit paid, and then in January 2020 I get an email from the restaurant owner that the manager/event planner was fired because he had promised us and others things they couldn't deliver on. They offered to give us our deposit back or to renegotiate the contract. In the renegotiation meeting, the changes proposed were mostly reasonable, until they got to the food - where they proceeded to offer us two basic appetizers (three of each per person, think pigs in a blanket) and a mac and cheese station for $107pp.
Needless to say, we asked for our deposit back. And no vendors had been booked that were specific to that venue, so no money was lost, just a lot of time and patience. I'd like to hear your input - Is this allowed by a venue contract?