Venue charging increase to move wedding

That is so terrible ugh.

howeverrrrrr i have noticed for brides on here that moved dates, some of their vendors did charge more because of things like increased costs [e.g. food expenses have definitely gone up] so i guess it's also not super uncanny but it definitely sucks.

i hope everything works out for you and that maybe you can come into better terms with your venue

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Thank you! Like I would understand a slight increase, but on the total bill it comes out to 25%. That is robbery. I get they are struggling, but that just seems unacceptable.

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Oh man 25% is a lot! i hope you can try to negotiate something more reasonable with them.

I've seen people charging fees or increased prices due to rising food costs, but never a postponement fee in a percentage per guest. 25% total seems incredibly expensive; we definitely couldn't afford that for our wedding. Can you negotiate with them about picking a less popular day or something?

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The 25% is just what I calculated the total increase would be based on per person cost, venue fee, etc. Not necessarily a postponement fee. We can choose a Friday which would be cheaper, but it just seems outrageous that they can try and charge us that more to just move it to a Saturday in 2021. We have a call to draw up a new contract tomorrow so we will definitely be negotiating!

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Are they just charging you the new 2021 pricing as a new contract? It may be hard to negotiate then, but I'll cross my fingers for you!

I have heard of this happening. they dont want to lose out on money so unless u really have to postpone theyre not gonna make it easy. 13% sounds pretty high though. what is the reason youre postponing?

At that rate I personally would just keep it in September. I think things may calm down by then

We're moving it because my stress levels have been through the roof and I don't want to feel this way for 3 more months for things to be maybe "okay". We also don't want to be in a situation where we need to uninvite people so it was worth it to me to move it to next year.

I think we will be able to negotiate it down I was just curious if anyone else was having the same issue and had any advice

This is awful! I really hate how some vendors are trying to take advantage of couples during this time.


We are rescheduling for next year and luckily our venue is letting us more our date at no penalty and honoring our pricing. Normally we would’ve lost out on any deposit beyond the initial deposit if we had to move our date.
Check your contract and see if there are any terms around postponement listed in there. If not, then i think you have a case to fight it. Best of luck!

Hi Stphabie,


I am so sorry to hear about the increase from your venue! Is that for an all inclusive venue I assume?
I am scheduled to get married in October, but my FH and I wanted to postpone and our venue wont allow us because our state is currently open at 50%. We have until July to decide if we want to have the wedding or cancel all together, which would make us very sad. I just wish they would be a little more flexible.
I hope your venue works a bit with you on the increased pricing so you dont have to pay so much!

Hi sorry to comment again, but I just realized you cant edit your posts and your name came out completely spelled wrong on my reply.


Sorry Stephanie!

13% seems high, but some increase for inflation seems acceptable. I would tell them that you would be willing to accept a 3% increase for inflation and then maybe negotiate up to 5-8%. I would not go higher than that. The reason they are doing this is there will be nearly double the weddings in 2021, so they believe they can fill you new date at a higher rate easily.

Daughter's wedding was in early-2019, so pre-Covid. However, when she booked her venue in the summer of 2017, the contract included a clause for up to a 10% increase to be determined 90 days before her wedding (to account for potential changes in costs, etc. during the 18 months between when she booked and when the wedding would be). We didn't love it, but that made sense because the venue's costs could go up in those 18 months.

Is your venue now doing something similar with all their contracts? So, someone making a new booking now, does their contract include a 13% price increase clause or have their prices for new bookings next year increased by 13% over the 2020 price list? In that case, are they charging you what they'd charge anyone booking for next year? Or, is the 13% a rebooking fee? What does your original contract say about changes/cancellations? Are they allowed? If so, is there a fee? If they weren't allowed, and according to your original contract you'd lose your deposit (or more) for cancelling or changing your date, they may feel like 13% is pretty fair since the contract doesn't require them to do anything. I get that this is really difficult and stressful for you, but if, for now, your event can still happen legally, it's not their fault you want to change it. I totally get why you want to, but I also see their side. Depending on what your original contract says, I don't necessarily think 13% is outlandish -- costs, especially for food/beverage and labor (they may need more servers, more cleaning, etc.), have gone up significantly. I'd try negotiating the 13% with them, but wouldn't be surprised if they are firm. If things open up, I think 2021 is going to be a super busy year for wedding venues because of the delayed 2020 demand, so they may not be very motivated to be flexible with you. I'm sorry.... Good luck!

View Quoted Comment Thank you all for your support ! The actual increase ended up being 25%. When we booked our wedding in 2019 they gave us 2019 prices with a discount on a ceremony/venue fee. They are now telling us there have been 2 years of increases ($10 a year) plus they will no longer honor the discount they gave us on the ceremony/venue fee. It's absolutely ridiculous. They kept pulling the card they were struggling but l

My post got cut off... they kept pulling the card we're struggling but seemed to not acknowledge the fact that so are their couples. It's really hard bc this has now built a sour relationship between us. I've had 5 friends have to postpone a wedding because of this and not one had even a slight increase but they're trying to rip us off and we have no ground to stand on. Honestly just seems greedy.