Asking the Venue for a Deposit Refund due to covid

What does your contract say about cancellation and any related penalties?

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The contract states the deposit is non-refundable. But what if he cannot fulfill his end of the contract? No services are being rendered.

I had the same issue with my venue, and we concluded that we couldn't recover the non-refundable deposit so long as an event could still happen (even though it couldn't be as big as we planned). Talked with wedding planner and lawyer. We are $4k down. I feel your pain.


What are your state's restrictions on gatherings? If 150 is in the contract and the restrictions won't allow that, *maybe* you have hope

Unfortunately you’re not going to get that deposit back. Deposits typically hold the space/date but the details of how many guests, etc. don’t apply to the deposit. They are trying to work with you to uphold the rest of the contract by offering to move the date so if you choose to cancel all together, that would be on you and not the venue. It’s worth trying to ask for a gift card to the restaurant I suppose but I wouldn’t count on it.

If it is a non refundable deposit, then I doubt you’ll get your money back. My venue offered it back to us because of sympathy, but unfortunately they don’t have to. Is the deposit was a decent amount, would you consider just pushing it back?

Yeah, we only got the option of pushing back our date. And all of our monthly payments were non-refundable at a tune of *$15k* - so yep, we're having this thing.


I'm really sorry that you're in this mess. It really really sucks.

View Quoted Comment If it’s a non refundable deposit you might be out of luck

Even before COVID, a lot of venues we looked at said if we cancelled, then we didn't get any money back, but if we wanted to postpone, then the money we paid could be put towards the new date, so we felt like this was a decent practice. Unfortunately this is the state of things now, and venues are really buckling down on the non-refundable deposits since they are also suffering and need that money to stay in business.

Deposits are generally non-refundable for pretty much all vendors, pandemic or not, unfortunately. If the venue is offering you options to still host the event on 10/10 (albeit not with your original vision) within the guidelines they have to follow, there's really not much you can do.

Like PPs mentioned, many venues are being flexible with postponing dates. But if you are the one deciding to cancel, I'd expect the answer you're getting. (Now, if they were completely closed or something and couldn't actually operate, that would be a different story.)

We're losing our $400 DJ deposit. While our venue is allowing dancing, it has to be socially distant and everyone has to wear masks. Since that didn't feel like a party vibe to us, we decided to do a formal dinner instead. We never would've canceled on our DJ otherwise, but we did so knowing we wouldn't see that $400 back.

Sorry OP but I don't think you will be getting the money back

You've mentioned that the deposit is non-refundable and that you aren't getting the services you paid for (placed a deposit for). Unfortunately though, it is you that has chosen to cancel the wedding rather than postpone or continue with the wedding at the venue with adjustments made.

Therefore, the venue hasn't necessarily failed to uphold their end of the bargain so you won't be able to rely on that as a source of getting your money back.

You can try asking for a gift voucher/credit to the restaurant which they may choose to give you as a gesture of goodwill however don't count on it happening.

My wedding was canceled 2 weeks before it happened way back in the beginning of the pandemic. Seating chart was done. Menu done. Final bills paid. Couldn’t get a single cent back....was only allowed to postpone which we’ve done twice already. April 9th to August 27th to April 1, 2021. My wedding was canceled bc it was FORBIDDEN by the government and even then I couldn’t get my money back.

It all comes down to the contract. Our contract included that it was for up to 150 guests and that if we cancelled, we forfeited all payments, but if the venue cancelled for any reason, we would receive a full refund. Even though we weren't planning to use the venue anymore, we held off on cancelling with the confidence that gatherings of 100+ people wouldn't be allowed on our wedding date, and finally the venue cancelled and issued us our refund last week (a month before the rental date) when the state of emergency limitations on gatherings over 50 got extended far enough to apply to our date.

Get in touch with the consumer reports team at your local news stations to see what they suggest as a plan of action.