What is Wrong with Venues??

Ugh I keep reading these horror stories and it’s awful! My heart goes out to you! What the hell is wrong with these venues?! You signed a contract to have your wedding on a Friday in the summer. Coronavirus or not, they are already breaking their contract by not being able to accommodate your 250 or so guests. It’s not like they are going to lose out on any money. It’s not like anyone could have booked your day instead. When you sign a contract for a specific date, The second they cannot accommodate anything that they signed in their contract they break their contract they have to give you their money back. I think deep down they know this too and they are just trying to purposefully D you around. And you’re absolutely right, it is tens of thousands of dollars and for them to not be able to accommodate an offer you something on a weekday in the winter is outrageous! I hope this all works out for you. Good luck

I would go straight to the news station if I were you! Blow them up on every social media you could possibly blow them up on and go straight to the news station!This is so outrageously unacceptable and I feel so bad for you right now!

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Thank you so much for your kind reply!! I am 100% going to be contacting every news station, newspaper, anyone who will listen to me once this is all over! My lawyer advised me against it during this initial process/lawsuit - even though it's killing me to wait! I'm very lucky that my lawyer happens to be very well acquainted with our state senator and he has already contacted her regarding the matter. They're definitely going to be feeling the fallout from this and I can't wait.

Oh this is just horrible. I'm so sorry you are having to go through with this.

Is the venue already booked all next summer? It just seems weird that they wouldn't try to work with you more. It sounds like they are just awful. Wishing you luck in getting some justice here!

That's awful and I'm so sorry you're dealing with this! It's such a hard time and I just don't understand how they thought that would be comparable for you. Let us know how it all goes with your lawsuit!

You're right - karma will come around

I'm so sorry this is happening to brides!! I have 4 friends getting married along with myself and they are having issues as well. Luckily my venue was city owned so they were willing to either changed the date or give a full refund. We opted for the full refund. I would thread to sue because I highly doubt this situation is in the contract you agreed to.

So sorry, Jackie. It’s terrible! I hope you can find another venue and win the case against this one.

Make sure you post reviews-Everywhere!

You give them hell! I’m so over hearing venues not giving up Friday/Saturday nights for a reschedule due to the pandemic and only going M-T. Greed greed greed. And yes make sure you give them a review detailing this. I’m sure brides in the future will take note and steer away from these greedy business especially since this may stretch on for a while!

That's terrible. You should give their name so no one else makes the mistake of booking there...or at least give them an honest review on here

We had four vendors keep their money. Wedding was in April and the state was shut down. We were furious because none could perform their contract unless asking us to go against recommendations or put businesses at risk of receiving fines. How businesses treat their customers will speak volume.

So sorry this happened for you guys as well. We didn't want to have the hassle of waiting for our money back and our venue and guest of 200 also didn't want to return the money so they first offered only 50% and we went back and forth and they offered 75%. We just took what we could so we can move on with our now "backyard wedding".

This is terrible! People are so greedy. Something similar happened to us LONG before the pandemic...

We put a $4,000 deposit on my dream venue. Their policy was 100% refund if the cancellation is within 30 days. We cancelled on the 31st day due to some major, major family issues. There was no way we were going to meet the minimum guest number the venue was requiring. Rather than waste their time or be turned away the day of our wedding, we decided the most polite thing would be explain the situation to them. The owner of the venue is an old family friend and they still did not issue the total refund. We got less than half back. The most frustrating part is knowing they made money they did not deserve to make.

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Don't do this without talking to your attorney first! I am an attorney and I would never want my client talking about their case on TV while it was pending because they can do a lot of damage to your strategy if they contradict themselves or something you later find in evidence.

Our original venue was a mess. When it all started, they sent me an email saying that they were
informed that we could no longer do buffet style serving unless we had
servers, and we could only use disposable plates/cups/silverware. They
were supposed to be providing the table settings originally, so I asked
if they were planning to provide the plastic ware and they told me "Absolutely
not". I was already upset with them because they were not going to
cover this unexpected expense or provide any kind of refund to help
cover since tableware was included in out price. Then when the governor limited party sizes, they came out and stated that they would NOT be refunding, or rescheduling at all due to covid19. They said that every dime they make they immediately put into running the facility. It was a barn venue on their property, and they are an older couple who have only been doing this about 6 years. They should have been holding that money in case of disaster. They said that they did not feel they needed to refund as they were not canceling, just saying that we could only have 10 people (including the 2 of them). We were 4 weeks out, but a friend of mine was only 1 week. She went to social media, and they were flooded with so many bad reviews and messages that they had to pull their accounts. Then the local public radio picked it up, followed by local media outlets. Another venue in the area ended up reaching out to her and offered her any date they had available for a retainer of $250 that they will return after the wedding is held. After she booked with them, they posted on Facebook that ANY couple who experienced cancellation due to covid, even if they received a refund, would get the same deal. We went out the next week and booked with them. Later that week we received a letter from the original venue that said they were willing to offer dates next year, or to try to work out a Friday (which I didn't understand because the rental was Tues-Sunday so if we took a Friday we would be screwing up another wedding), or to refund. I asked for a refund and was told I'd be "placed on a list" and they will refund us whenever they start booking more weddings and have the money. I know I should be glad we are getting the refund, but I am still SO frustrated that we have no idea when.

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Oh my gosh! This is just awful, I'm so glad something worked out for you but sheesh, all the BS you had to deal with. I'm so so sorry.

We really need to start a blacklist on all the wedding sites of all these awful venues.

I'm in similar boat where venue won't let me reschedule without charging me the full cancellation fee of 50%!!! And sounds like there are many other brides dealing with similar issues.

I feel for you! I'm so sorry you're having to go through with all this. While not wedding related, during the beginning of this Covid my company had to cancel several events involving 1000s of people for 3 large events. I reviewed our contract AND it stated "acts of God" warranted a non-penalized cancellation... My event manager (whom I've worked with for years) tried to cite that Act of God only covered wars and terrorism. - Teaching lesson 101 - Wars and Terrorism are not acts of God, but rather acts of Humans... LOL...

Anyway, I'd request to speak to someone other than her, directly to the owners and if you have to start blasting them on Social Media. People hate to get a bad rep on SM these days. Reach out to your local TV station and bring what they're doing to the worlds attention. They may end of changing their tune in order to not ruin their reputation. I'd also cite the "SIL" of this establishment was told to "handle at her discretion" and she's opting to NOT to help you.