June 6, Venue will not allow us to postpone

I quoted your post in another thread, and then I saw this. Here is what I said below:

We are in a similar situation, we are June 13th. I called my venue yesterday, and they have rescheduled all weddings through mid-May, but aren't ready or willing to do the same for the rest of May, June, or after. I expressed to them that we were concerned that even if it wasn't "illegal" or against government recommendations to host a wedding at the time, we weren't comfortable with it due to having older and immunocompromised family members that plan on attending and can't be persuaded otherwise. They told me that if we were to cancel now or try to reschedule, we'd owe them the money up to this point in our contract, which only a few months out is almost everything. We decided that we'd reconnect (me and the venue director) mid-April to make a decision about postponing or not based on what changes in the next few weeks. My fiancé and I are in agreement at this point where we'd rather postpone with certainty than sit in the unknown any longer. Our venue did allow us to put a date on hold in September just in case we have to postpone to ease my mind, but the decision won't be ours. Sending good vibes your way and I'm sorry you're going through this!

My venue did tell me that there are several other venues in our city forcing couples to go through with their wedding NO MATTER WHAT, and citing "religious exceptions" as the reason to not allow them to reschedule. That's just cruel and given current circumstances, unreasonable. This is not the policy of our venue, but we still feel helpless in that we don't get to decide whether or not we postpone until the CDC releases additional information closer to our wedding date.

What a stressful situation! Did the venue say when they will make a decision about June weddings? Are they saying if you postpone they would not return your deposit, or that you would owe them for the total cost of the wedding? Have you gone over your contract closely to see what contingencies it includes?

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State of NH says they can have weddings starting May 1. We are June 6, but we don't feel comfortable and we want to postpone, same venue. They would not transfer our funds. They would keep 50% of the total of the wedding which is what we have paid so far. Everyone prior to May 1 was given a new date and their deposits transfered. The contract says that this is what happens if we choose to cancel or postpone, but I feel like a pandemic is an extenuating circumstance.

Wow that's tough. I hope they change their policy about June weddings soon!

Your venue might be deciding to wait it out and see what new guidelines might offer. im so sorry you're in this situation. keep the communication fluid with your venue as much as you can.

I've just posted a lengthy message regarding postponement and I think it would really help you to read it.

https://www.weddingwire.com/wedding-forums/june-couples-postponing-due-to-covid-19-encouragement/e2e6a03e5635af33.html

All the best,

Natalie

I'm in New Hampshire too and we have a May 30th wedding, so just one week before yours. Currently the stay-at-home order in New Hampshire goes through May 4th and the CDC guidelines about gatherings of no more than 50 people go until the second weekend in May. Our date is 3 weeks outside of the CDC guidelines and 4 weeks after the current stay-at-home order in NH ends. I imagine if the state emergency order was extended at all the venue would need to comply and give you the option of a refund or rescheduling, because at that point they would not be able to uphold their end of the contract for providing the services you paid for. Currently, our venue will apply our deposit towards a rescheduled date but won't refund us, but we don't know if that would change if the CDC or state extended recommendations beyond what they currently are. We are waiting to make a decision because the situation keeps changing so quickly that we don't want to come up with a Plan B only to come up with a Plan C only to have that not work either.

I would say read through your contract thoroughly and see what it says. Chances are there is an "act of God" clause in there that pretty much states that the deposit you paid is non-refundable for you canceling or changing your plans for any reason whatsoever. Hopefully most venues will come around and find some way to work with couples, but unfortunately I don't think they are under any obligation to express empathy or concern to couples going through this awful time.

I wonder if you could tell them you don't want to postpone yet, but ask what dates they have available in the future, and then put into place a contingency plan on a date where you can best align all the vendors you have right now. I know my worry with waiting to make a call is that we'll end up not having any options if/when we finally do decide to postpone and that even if all of our vendors are willing to transfer our deposits to a new date that we won't find one date that works for everyone, so we'll be forced to forfeit deposits and search for new vendors regardless.