When Your Wedding Venue Gets Sold, Part 1
4 Jan
A few weeks ago, we got wind that the hotel where we’ve booked our ceremony was up for sale–and that someone had put a bid on it. Next we heard that if the deal went through, the hotel would be changed from a upscale hotel to a rather nice B&B–meaning that it would be under construction…in April.
My reaction: OK, breathe, we can find another venue. My fiancee’s reaction: Pissed off. This is the venue we’ve been dreaming of for months now with all the perfect qualities we wanted: impeccable decor, stunning view of the river, multiple balconies and decks, window views and excellent food and wine.
Then we came home to Fowey, the location of our wedding, for Christmas. It’s a small village so, of course, we ran into the manager of the hotel where we’ve booked when we went out for dinner on our second night here and heard that the deal had gone through–which meant, in our minds, no venue.
The thing about booking our venue is that we didn’t sign any contract and didn’t pay a deposit. First, we had a verbal contract, and then an email contract. The reasons for this lack of formality was largely due to the fact that my future in-laws live three doors down from the hotel. If we had gone with one of the other hotels in town, we most likely would have signed a paper contract and paid a deposit. But that’s small town for you.
So where does that leave us? Needing to have a formal conversation with the manager, that’s where. Like Alex, my future in-laws were none too pleased with the hotel developments, and when they get pissed off, they hold people accountable. I like their style generally. Tomorrow will bring a stopping by the office of the hotel manager to have a possibly brief, definitely firm conversation. Deposit or not, we had a contract with them to serve as wedding venue on the 17th of April in the year 2010 and damnit if there not going to put it right for us.
I’ll let you know how it goes. In the meantime, anyone had a similar venue horror stories?
Yeesh. That sucks. Good luck! Hopefully they’ll come through for you!
Good for you! It’s awesome to have family that’s willing to help you out in sticky situations like these – honestly, that’s where the bulk of the help came from when we were planning our wedding :) I needed moral support more than I needed attendants to walk down an aisle! :D Definitely keep us updated, and if you can, please post tips in case people need to do this themselves down the line!
Unfortunately, this does happen – not frequently, but enough. Last Fall, a local Country Club in MA closed there doors on a Monday. No notice, no nothing. Fall is busy here in New England and there were weddings for the following weekends. Last I heard, those brides had signed a contract and had made a deposit (some more than a deposit) and the Country Club was not dishing out refunds. Many brides were left out in the cold.
A contract with a credit card deposit is typically the safe way to go. If they refused to give your money back, you could go through your bank. However, in this case, I wouldn’t beat yourself up about not having a contract. Chances are they would have sold with or without one. It’s a shame. Best of luck in the battle.
Ack, how awful! Good luck with the meeting! Hope everything works out. Keep us posted.
That’s awful. We’ve had a couple of “why aren’t they open?” and “why are there 14 cop cars swarming around the place?” moments, but thankfully, nothing like that. Good luck wiht the meeting, and I hope something gets worked out. Hopefully, you’ll be expecting the worst, and then the best happens.
Oh, wow. We had a venue double-book the space on our date (AFTER we’d placed a hold on it – grr!). Thankfully, we found out in plenty of time and (fingers corssed) are about to sign a new contract with a new venue. Finding a new venue in a small town in four months sounds frustrating, though!