NEED HELP! Serious venue problem, I'm in tears now...

You demand them to give you your money back. Or have them pay for a different venue. This is absolutely terrible customer service. You poor thing though I couldn't imagine...

What renovation? How big? Will it be disruptive to your wedding?

Does this constitute a breach of contract?

We reserved their garden wedding gazebo for the ceremony, and for the reception we booked the entire Event Center, which includes two beautiful separate banquet rooms with an amazing lake view, a small but very nice, picture-perfect bridal suite and a grooms room (with our own private bathrooms), the built-in bar, and outside patio area with trees that can be lighten up at night. We absolutely loved this place, with all the rustic but elegant details, lights, and the intimate settings it provides for our small wedding.

But now, according to their "exciting announcement", basically they are going to demolish the walls inside the entire floor to create this "open space setting", turned the first floor into One, Huge, Plain open space, the kind of place I really wanted to avoid when I was looking for a venue!

They're also going to get rid of the wall lights and hanging lights, replace them with rally ugly chandeliers; they even getting rid of bridal suite and grooms room, and turning them into additional bathrooms.

I can go on with the list all the details we loved but they demolished, now it's Not the same venue we booked months ago, and not the same place I've been planning to decorate and have been dreaming about.

I literally don't know what to do. They are turning the venue into a place that I tried so hard to avoid, I've been crying since I got their email. It's too close to our date, invitations are out, other vendors are already paid, I already bought lot of decorations, we really don't have time to start all over again.

Any suggestions? I really feel our wedding is ruined.

They're doing all that, and going to be done before your wedding?

Did it have a start date? Have you talked with anyone there about what that means for you and your wedding?

So they already did this renovation?

The venue is Vintage Villas on lake Travis...

We were absolutely happy with them until today. I really don't know what to do.

You should call them and clarify what this means for your wedding

I don't really have any suggestions just a little encouragement,

As long as you still have a venue, even if it's not what you originally booked, it's going to be beautiful, all the visions you had can still become a reality just in a different way. The most important thing is that you're getting to marry the love of your life with people there you equally love to celebrate. I'm so sorry this has happened but maybe you can find a new dream within their renovations. You will have a beautiful wedding full of love and joy.

No, they have NEVER told me anything about the renovation UNTIL today.

When I called them, they said this BS that "they are not sure if the renovation will actually start so we didn't contact until the deal is solid". Really bs.... Oh also, the renovation ALREADY started a couple of days ago, and won't finish until first week of March.

Ok, I googled it and found an article from two weeks ago that states that states that renovations began December 4th. So don't let them give you that BS about not knowing until now. They are shitty, and I'm so sorry.

https://communityimpact.com/local-news/austin/lake-travis-westlake/news/2017/01/10/vintage-villas-banquet-facility-renovations-complete-march-1st/

I would assume they are doing it now because they wanted a large enough span of time where they didn't have any events to be able to finish it in. Things fall through with contractors all the time so once permits are in hand and engineering changes are approved they start right away to make sure they meet their deadline

This is so horrible of them. I'm so sorry. They should absolutely refund you and I agree with pps that this may even fall in to breach of contract. I'd check your contract to see if there is any language around this. Even if it's *technically* legal it's still horribly inconsiderate.

Regarding ideas to make the space still fit your vision: would it be possible to bring in something that creates temporary walls, like screens or floral arrangements? this could help break up the space and make it feel closer like your vision. Obviously I think the venue should cover any costs for this given how they've treated you, but pretty looking screens may not be that expensive even if you're stuck where you are. I'd see what you could do to re-claim the aspects of the space that you liked to give it the feel that you were looking for.

I'd also say that just because the invitations have been sent doesn't mean it's too late to change venues if another option in the area was available. As long as it's in the same general area I think guests would understand that "extenuating circumstances" meant that your venue needed to be changed. And your vendors can probably also switch locations (within reason) if necessary.

Cassie, thank you for the encouragement. But here's the thing. We are paying for our entire wedding, and we worked hard to save up for that. And we spend a lot of time, traveled all over the place looking for a perfect venue. We do not live in Austin, we decided to do our wedding in Austin ONLY because this venue was so perfect.

And we have already spend 4 month planning the theme, the deco (yes I already ordered some of them), all to go with the atmosphere of the venue.

It really pisses me off that looks like they didn't recognize the issue here at all. They don't think there's anything wrong with keeping us in the dark until last minute.

All they said is they will give us a free hotel room so we can use it as the grooms room. Oh, since the bridal suite is also demolished, they will let me use one of the banquet room to change and get ready. A banquet room with all glass walls, to change.

You can't be the only wedding happening there that's having this reaction. what did they think was going to happen when they sent this email out?! honestly i'm stunned this is happening it sounds like a nightmare.

@bearpenguin I'm so sorry. I would be in tears too. I would have a lawyer take a look at your contract asap. I don't see how your venue can do this to you. They owe you a lot more than a hotel room or two imo.

I know this is heartbreaking and I am so sorry I would be definitely looking over your contract and making a list of what you would like them to do to make this right.

I'm so sorry that this is happening. I would definitely contact the venue and ask about the timeline for the renovations. A lot can happen to disrupt construction. What happens if it's not finished by march 1? Also, they should be offering you a heck of a lot more than they are for the inconvenience. I would have a lawyer look over the contract and get some advice. I can't see how they wouldn't be under breach of contract unless they put a loophole clause in there about changing things. If they promised you certain things that are now being demolished then they should offer you a discount or something better than what they have offered so far.

I definitely recommend getting out your contract and reading the fine print. I'd demand a refund and try to find a new location in the same area asap or see how your venue can accommodate your plan with their changes.

I am so sorry. I agree with others - call them on a breach of contract. Look online for brides experiencing the same with your venue (ie does the city have a wedding discussion group on FB??) - their is power in numbers. Contact your news paper - ours is always looking for stories like this.

Oh my gosh, the exact same thing happened to my coworker. She was just about to send her invitations out, and found out they changed some crazy regulations, and half her guests wouldn't be able to get to her venue. She scrambled and found a really pretty hotel in the beach that included everything. It all worked out in the end. Keep us posted!