Wedding venue deposit

Our location does have this. It is refundable for us, and I totally understand why because it is a house with very original pieces. We are also staying the night and having an after party of sorts, so like a security deposit.

It depends on the venue. My venue doesn't require any extra deposit aside from showing them we bought insurance at least 2 weeks before our wedding date. Some other venues that I've toured do require a refundable cleaning deposit just in case all our stuff did not get taken away in time and the ceremony/reception sites would not be ready for next day's wedding.

The damage deposit is included in the total. So I put down a deposit and pay the remainder, including the damage deposit I believe a month prior. The damage deposit is returned within 2 weeks after the event.

Ours worked our like this.... 25% upfront to reserve, 25% three months before our date, and the remaining 50% is paid when we give them our final head count before. None of these are refundable to us so if something happened, we'd be out whatever payments we have made at the time of cancellation.

Ours is 50% down and the other half plus proof of insurance due by 30 days before the wedding.

Sorry, I meant to say security deposit. We paid our deposit to hold the date, and then we have to have the rest paid off a week before the wedding. Now they want an additional $1,000 refundable deposit 72 hours before the wedding that we can get back 10 days later.

We have a $500.00 refundable deposit due with our last payment. It is refunded within 10 days of our event.

No, I've never heard of that. Our vendors all had to be insured, but there was no "security deposit" that we had to pay. We paid one, flat price per head to include all food, beverage, and rentals. While I'm sure they accounted for cleaning in their package fees, there was no separate line item on our invoice for damage protection or anything like that, and we were not required to get our own wedding insurance.

Is this deposit they want refundable, and do you have that in writing? What can they hold you liable for? Like are they going to penalize you if a little red wine gets spilled on the carpet? Or does someone have to be thrown through a window before they hold onto your money? I'd just make sure you're extra clear about what constitutes as actual damage that you're liable for.

View Quoted Comment Idk about anyone else’s venue but ours didn’t. We had to pay the initial hold deposit & then we were placed on a payment plan to pay off the venue. They only suggested insurance from a 3rd party in case of damages bc we were responsible. 1k seems a little steep imo but it’s refundable so I guess you should be fine. I’d just make sure to take pictures/document everything before & after the event

View Quoted Comment Yeah it's refundable and it's in writing. They can charge for basically anything though. If we left a piece of trash all the way to if we stay after our allotted time. It's all in the writing but it just didn't come up until now and it's just kind of a bummer.

View Quoted Comment Yeah we are definitely going to do that. It just didn't come up until now so I'm just kind of bummed about that much money being left as a deposit for 10 days.

When you say it’s in writing, is it part of the contract you signed when you gave the initial deposit?

Yep yep, though we have to pay it a month before the wedding!

Oh wait I may have misunderstood, do you mean they are having you pay for the space in full before the day, or that you have to put additional $ down as a security deposit type thing?

Our venue has a $500 security deposit on top of what we pay. However, she doesn’t cash the check unless it’s needed in case there’s any damage to venue after our wedding. Which I highly doubt there will be. Every other venue in our town had the same thing.

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Oy, that would concern me a lot, especially if it was not in your initial contract. Sounds like no matter what happens, you won't be getting that deposit back.

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Same for us. $500 security deposit due 2 weeks before the event. If at the end of the night, there are no obvious damages, the venue owner hands the check back to me or whoever I've designated (uncashed obviously), to be destroyed. Like PPs have said, not all venues require this but I don't think it's that uncommon.

We did not have to put down a security deposit however we did need to purchase wedding liability insurance with our venue as the legal entity. I was more than happy to do that because we are having an open bar and not to be mean but FH friends sometimes get stupid when drinking.

It’s normal! My venue does not have this, but states in contract we will be liable for any damage to the venue. I believe when we get closer we have to give them a credit card to store just in case.

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No, it didn't. However, they are under new owners and I know they went through and changed things around, including this whole deposit thing. Basically, if we don't pay it, we can't use the venue even though we have the contract because it's their new terms and conditions, and in the contracts it says that we'll follow all their terms and conditions whether made before or after the signing of the contract, so I guess that's my fault.