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J
Savvy October 2020

Anyone fight to get their deposits back from their Venue and was successful?

Jesssss, on July 23, 2020 at 6:31 PM Posted in Community Conversations 0 9
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Hello All,


My fiancé and I have made the difficult decision to cancel our wedding after postponing once. It has been emotionally taxing and we just want to put the whole wedding behind us. That being said, we are currently speaking with our venue who is making the process extremely difficult (which I understand), to get our deposit back. Of course we understand that we signed a contract and they may not be obligated to give us our money back, but I’m curious to know if anyone successfully received their deposits back due to Covid-19.
If you were able to, did you contact a lawyer or handle it on your own? Also, was there some sort of loophole within your contract? We have force majeure within our contract which states that they have to postpone our wedding in an event of an Act of God, but is there any way we can argue that we already postponed once and therefore it no longer applies?
Any help will be appreciated!

9 Comments

Latest activity by Lynnie, on July 24, 2020 at 10:31 AM
  • Chrysta
    Master November 2022
    Chrysta ·
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    Unfortunately, with a signed contract with force majeure in relation to acts of God, I don’t think you are going to be receiving any of your money back since you are the ones wanting to cancel. It sounds like the venue upheld their end of the contract by accommodating your reschedule date.
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  • Soon2BSmith
    Expert October 2020
    Soon2BSmith ·
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    Does you contract have an Act of God clause?

    My contract does not and we are debating on whether to try to fight the contract or not. I did reach out to a lawyer and they told me, that venue can charge a cancellation fee.

    So, he said it's really 50/50 on getting out of our contract without the penalties.

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  • M
    Master October 2021
    Mrs.a ·
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    You signed a contract, and as other pp said the venue upheld their part. This is the liability involved with signing contracts and paying deposits.

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  • J
    Savvy October 2020
    Jesssss ·
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    I understand that. This post was intended for anyone who was able to get out of the contract successfully and receive their deposit back.
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  • M
    Master October 2021
    Mrs.a ·
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    Right, although I think it’ll be quite difficult considering you signed a contract with an act of god clause and a cancellation policy. If it’s worth it to pay a lawyer at this point, I would suggest doing that. Good luck with everything.
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  • J
    Savvy October 2020
    Jesssss ·
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    Thank you, Marisa! I thought I saw somewhere that someone argued that this was in fact not an act of God but an act of man. I know it probably sounds ridiculous lol but we’re willing to try. Thank you for your suggestion.
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  • M
    Master October 2021
    Mrs.a ·
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    If you figure out that there is a loop hole it’ll be a game changer for a lot of people!
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  • Marcia
    Expert March 2021
    Marcia ·
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    I asked my reception venue and they offered to refund and then went back on it...so we are still working all of that out. I don't expect I would win if I got a lawyer, so I'm at their mercy
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  • Lynnie
    WeddingWire Administrator October 2016
    Lynnie ·
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    I've heard similar things Jesssss! In terms of event contracts, the current health pandemic falls more under "government mandates, closures, and restrictions" than an "Act of God" (since those tend to be natural weather disasters).

    Unfortunately it sounds like your contract pretty clearly states that weddings will be postponed (and not refunded) in cases of force majeure, but you can always have a lawyer look over your contract and see what they say!

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