My fiancé and I have been a very flexible “Covid” couple, and completely understand rolling with the punches. However, we could really use any advice regarding how to deal with changes posed by our wedding venue.
We booked our venue last may (2020). The venue is a boutique hotel, with 4 event spaces - courtyard, kitchen, dining room, and living room- and advertises for the use of their front lawn for cocktail hours when renting all event spaces. The rental agreement we signed stated we would have the venue from Friday April 23 at 11AM to Sunday April 25 at 11AM with all event spaces booked out. This was finalized nearly a year ago. We have already solidified our rehearsal dinner plans at the venue for Friday night with other vendors and rentals for these event spaces the day of the wedding.
The venue has undergone new ownership and extreme renovations since we singed the agreement; which I would have known nothing about if I did not work across the street. To the point that it is not the same venue we purchased. Not only has it lost any “historic” feel, several of the rooms booked by our family were converted from double to single rooms without notification, sending many scrambling to find beds elsewhere. On top of accepting our wedding would have a different “feel” than we intended (which we accepted gracefully) when I sent our venue coordinator our headcounts 30 days out, she told me that we did not have the event space rented for Friday night. She also informed me that the living room would no longer allow food and drink; which is the main interior area, where our cake was supposed to be set and cut, and where part of the cocktail hour was to take place. The other change was that the front lawn would be under construction and off limits. Not only does this impede the waterfront view, it also removes the space for the satellite bar and cocktail tables already purchased for the front lawn for the remaining cocktail hour area. Our coordinator is very familiar with the venue, and planned our rentals and layouts accordingly, which were finalized prior to being told any of these things (less than 30 days out). These recent changes with the new ownership are throwing curveballs, and I’m pretty sure breaking contract? I’ve scoured our contract, and the only provision which references amendments states changes or modifications to the contract must be signed by both parties, and I didn’t sign anything related to any of the above.I’ve asked the venue coordinator to honor our contract, but haven’t heard anything back. Any advice is helpful!