Wedding Venue overage fee charged?

I haven't heard of them calling it an "overage fee" but I have experienced venues requesting a deposit!

Never heard of this and we didn’t come across any venue that had one when discussing details with them. This sounds like a red flag. Keep looking elsewhere if you haven’t already.

View Quoted Comment A deposit is to confirm and hold the date/venue as a definite. It is completely unrelated to the questionable “overage” fee that is just a way to nickel and dime couples. Reputable companies don’t need to do this.

I've never heard of this, and question if there's prejudice involved demanding so much money ahead of time. Red flag. Or they have a pattern of disorganization where they cannot plan ahead or mitigate issues. More red flags.

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Yea, this is a luxury national hotel brand that everyone knows....so i'm perplexed by it. They also take the full amount plus the overage fee 30 days before the wedding date via a wire transfer. I also find that odd. I can completely understand a credit card on file for incidentals, but to charge an overage 30 days before the event even happens, when my guest count could likely go down seems very odd to me...and i'm feeling very uneasy. They say they've been burned too many times in the past...and I'm thinking...a contract is a contract. That tells me you're charging things outside of the signed contract, which is why brides aren't paying after the fact....so then that tells me there's a communication problem...

View Quoted Comment They know that most couples won’t question various fees and charges if they sound official but don’t do anything to benefit the couple. If the hotel has been burned by couples having weddings in the past, any other business would stop servicing weddings. Only capitalists who don’t care about ethics for dealing with consumers are going to take advantage of what they can because they know that most couples don’t do due diligence and hand off planning to others who don’t pay close attention to what they are pay for. It doesn’t matter that this is a “luxury hotel brand”. No one anywhere should be charging this and sleeping at night.

You can ask for that to be removed, especially since it is a new concept. Remind them that you have a very well-behaved crowd.

This sounds similar to an “incidental fee” that most hotels charge, then return after your visit. Since your venue is a hotel, I think it’s likely they have carried over that policy to events held there as well. I wouldn’t be happy with that being sprung on me last minute either. You could ask them to remove it; but unfortunately, if it’s now their policy and it’s part of their contract, you’re likely going to have to agree to it or find a new venue.

Do they automatically refund the fee, or do you have to request their overage fee back after the wedding? You could try to negotiate with them to remove that clause, but if they refuse, then you'll need to decide whether you're OK with that condition. If you decide to move forward with that venue, get it in writing what the specific conditions are for the fee being returned (such as, "less than [number] guests attend"), a timeline for when and how that money will be returned (such as, "returned by check within 30 days after the wedding"), and whether the venue will automatically return the fee, or whether it's your responsibility to request that fee back. Also check whether there are any scenarios where you might only get part of the fee back.

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Luxury brands can still have untrained event coordinators or have a high turnover rate. Some of which you discussed can certainly be planned in advance and hiring security can assist in crowd control (which not every wedding even needs). "Being burned" means they can't handle security of their own premises. Best wishes finding another venue.