Venue Adding Additional Fees 2 Weeks Away

I would 100% read over your first contract, look at your breakdown of charges to see if those fees were listed and see if it says anything about understanding that there may be additional fees as the date gets closer. If it does mention the possibility of additional fees, then I think you're stuck. If your original contract doesn't say anything about additional or last minute fees, and does not list anything she is talking about now, I would try to fight it. You signed one contract with the 1st wedding coordinator and the new one should honor that for any couples the old coordinator had.

My job is writing and reviewing contracts, mortgages and warranty deeds. It's all in the wording. Hopefully you can find something where you will not have to pay anything except your last payment.

They definitely should honor the original contract. Does it say anything about the prices being able to go up at anytime? If not then they can’t raise the prices. If it mentions that prices are subject to change then that may be a problem for you

If you’ve signed the first contract and they’re admitting their mistake, that is their problem. I would fight it and say no you’re not paying it, you already signed your contract and agreed to your fees.


My venue tried to do a similar thing when we postponed our wedding. I contacted them a week before I contacted all vendors (naturally) and it was fine. I contacted all over vendors and we officially postponed. A week later, my coordinator emailed me and said “I talked to my manager and she said it’s going to be a fee for moving and that you’re going to lose your deposit ($5k) and need to pay another deposit ($5k more) , hope that’s fine). No. Not fine actually. And I argued it even calling them liars at one point (because that wasn’t the first time they backtracked on things when I had previous emails as proof.)
Argue it. That’s the point of contracts

They should honor the contract you have signed. That's the purpose of it - if you can't decide two weeks before the wedding to pay them less than the agreed upon amount, why should they get to decide to raise prices two weeks before? The signed contract should lock in pricing. Double check the contract wording to make sure it doesn't give them flexibility on pricing/fees, and if it doesn't, I would fight them on the added fees.

I agree with PPs.. look over the wording in the original contract to see if it says prices are subject to change. If not, I would definitely fight it. The same thing happened to me with my vendor- I was quoted one price by the event coordinator then she quit. Luckily, I had it all in writing in our email correspondence and the event manager honored it (even though it was significantly lower in price).

Most contracts say subject to fees and or increase. Happened to my bridal shower... my mom paid for it and when I asked what it cost it was $32/person versus the $27 in the PDF we were sent; we emailed the coordinator and she said it’s subject to price increase without notice. I gave them a bad review because that added $400 she wasn’t expecting.

Agree with the others- go over your contract with a fine tooth comb!

I really don't get how and why venues are making it difficult to postpone a wedding. It's not like we are getting cold feet, it's a pandemic that is forcing postpoments. I get it they are out an event on that day but who says they would of had one to cover when there is a pandemic. Some states won't even allow gatherings over a certain amount of people. I'm glad my venue and other vendors have been so accommodating. Only one vendor requested more payment which I was more than ok paying!


I would not accept this from a vendor. Read over the contract and make them stick to it. It was their contract you signed, their pricing structure, their terms, this is all on them!
Good luck try not to cave just to make it easier!

I am not a lawyer but I dont believe they can just add fees unless you signed something saying they could. This doesnt sound like an accident, it sounds like theyre trying to pull one over on you. That being said with the wedding so close you may want to just go through with and fight it later?

Thanks everyone! I went over the contract and do see where they reserve the right to increase the service fee percentage but nothing about the other fees!!

It sounds like your venue is not the best with customer service - I'm so sorry that you're dealing with this. I would definitely push back since there's nothing in the contract about it.

We booked 2+ years out and our original coordinator left. The new one has been absolutely wonderful and one of the first things she told me was that they'd be honoring our contract as-is. The only thing I didn't know about was a 2.5% credit card fee, but that seems pretty reasonable.