Small Wedding - Vendors Upset/making Me Feel Bad

It's definitely normal to have been given a minimum. My venue asked how many we were inviting and then made the minimum 20% of that.

If you said there were approximately 70 a year ago, and the contract said you could reduce the number until a week before the wedding, she has no right to charge you for 70 now. I would check that contract again, and if it says you can reduce the number, point out to her that she needs to charge you only for the actual number attending.

It's not cool that they are giving you shade, but you still paid for 70 regardless of how many people showed up, so what does it matter to them? My venue has a food and beverage minimum charge which doesn't matter the guest count. So you could have a lot of people with minimum bar and bare bones food or a few people getting the ritzy treatment-they don't care.

I'm so sorry to hear this. That is such a bummer. Unfortunately it does sound like 70 might have been the minimum that they expected and may have already been prepping/planning for that amount of guests. That's really shady that they would not stick to their word even though you contacted them a week before the date. Have you discussed this issue in person or just over other ways of communication? It might be easier to pursue them into understanding where you are coming from in person. I'd be a little worried about having an attitude about it though before the event happens so be careful, but make sure you get some legit clarification before you finalize paying anything.

Thank all, I just scheduled a meeting with her before I leave my review and I am going to bring up the contract so we both are on the same page. I regret not dealing with it before payment was due, but it was days before the wedding. Maybe she will refund me some money.

I really didn't think 12 less people (17% less than expected) was a significant decrease.

I think I am taking this more personal because she isn't the only person who seems to be looking down on me for the size of my wedding. My hairstylist told me that she will charge a minimum in the future because I did not have bridesmaids and she thought $200 plus a $50 tip was not worth her time.

That's strange. I guess I would need to look at our own contract, but it was made pretty clear that we were giving an estimate of how many we were inviting and THEN closer to the date we provide a final number and pay accordingly. 20 less people than what they quoted you for doesn't even seem to me to be a huge difference. Of course I realize a bigger event yields them more money, but this how events go - you invite a certain number which is usually never the final number.

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I just set up a meeting. I think you are right that meeting in person is best to make sure we both understand!

This is normal.

We booked our venue (catering included) promising we would have a certain # of people. If we were lower than that we would have to pay. As a business, this makes sense because they could have booked a different wedding for your night with more people = more money for them. Therefore, you commit to a minimum guest count/minimum spend. Just review your contact before you take this to social media/reviews... it's pretty standard in the wedding industry.
Also, your comment about the makeup/hairstylist: Every single one I contacted (7) has a minimum head-count for a Saturday to secure them. Again, this is because they could book with someone else and make more money during peak wedding time.
Some florists I contacted also had a minimum spend amount.
Just remember it's business- it's not personal- if someone doesn't take your wedding on because it's on the smaller side.

If your contract is written the way you say, I would not feel bad at all.

I’m sure this stuff happens all the time, which is why small vendors are constantly updating their contract documents for future business.

Bottom line, don’t let them give you attitude with the “significantly lower” comment. Don’t let them make you feel bad. THEY signed THEIR own contract! Sheesh.

Err...this is NOT normal. It IS normal to have a minimum , but when that’s the case it should be explicitly stated in your contract/discussed from the get-go. Sounds like she’s back pedaling because she wants to make more money. Much of the pre-planning is based on estimates. When we first met with our caterer we were using the number 150, but we also said that was about the max that we would be using but expected less in the end. There was NEVER a guarantee of 150!! In fact, we didn’t even invite a whole 150, I think we were only ended up invited maybe 147 when all was said and done. We ended up with 123. THATS what we paid for — our set up sounded similar to yours. Deposits were based on an estimate, but the actual guest count was due 2 weeks before the event. THIS set the minimum— that number was what we would pay even if someone backed out or no showed after that point . But, we could add additional guests after that point. I would definitely check your contract. Ours said this pretty specifically, but I still double checked before signing so there wouldn’t be any questions/discrepancies.

Yeah also that “significantly lower guestcount” is some BS. Based on those numbers, you actually had a higher than average acceptance rate

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Thank you! This is what I am thinking. We used an outside caterer because our venue does not offer catering. I know lots of venues have a minimum. Below is the exact wording from the contract. I am meeting with her next week and hoping it will clear some of this up. Just wanted to make sure I am not crazy.
Contract Details

Personally, with a caterer saying the count is "significantly lower than what we had on our contract" doesn't necessarily mean they are upset. They just have rules and such they have to stick to and some companies hold you to a certain number because they financially cant go any lower without it hurting their business. But I do see what you mean in a sense, because you should only pay for what you're using.

Were you aware there was a minimum count? we gave an initial quote of 100 people including vendors and our final count is way below that. we also had some people who were unable to attend and we'll be at 75 max with vendors. i personally feel, unless you were told there's a minimum, you shouldn't be responsible. to a certain degree you can't control who can and can't make the wedding.