Postponement fees and getting an attorney involved

Omg 450 guests for a wedding? Sheesh lol but no I haven't personally experienced anything like that. If your contract specifically states that you are allowed to change the date at no cost, then I would definitely get an attorney involved. Call me crazy but $5,400 is a lot for a photographer deposit 😳 I definitely wouldn't just lose that.

From what you have described, it appears that either (a) the vendor has broad rights under the contract to unilaterally vary the terms at its discretion, or (b) your vendor has taken it upon themselves to unilaterally vary the terms despite not having the right to do so.

Where I come from, parties are generally not allowed to unilaterally vary contracts as it is unfair on the other side. Naturally I am not sure what the legal position is where you live.

If I were you, I would comb over the contract again so as to ascertain whether or not the vendor does have a variation right (or a clause to the effect that they reserve their rights to charge additional fees) and once you are 100% satisfied that they are breaching the contract, inform them (in writing) that you will give them an opportunity (i.e. 7 days) to withdraw their variations/requests before you refer the matter to an attorney given they are breaching the contract/varying it without any entitlement to do so, and that should the matter need to continue via litigation, you will seek recovery of costs for your legal fees.

As a lawyer (elsewhere), I can say this – lawyers are expensive! Exhaust all avenues you can first, make sure everything is documented, and then, once your proposal for them to withdraw ends, take it to an attorney.

View Quoted Comment Thank you for your reply. Are we allowed to post pictures? I did have a friend who is a contract attorney look at the contract last night and she believes the wording is such that we should be allowed a change within one year at no charge. I underlined where the contract states "or that the event is canceled due to a casualty, war, terrorism, pandemic or other acts of God, which are beyond the parties control, the retainer remains non-refundable. However, depending on the availablity of ----, the services outlined in this contract may be transfered to a new date within one year. In this circumstance alone, there is no cost to THE CLIENT to transfer services to a new date."


No where in their contract do they say there is a $1,500 date change fee. We have been back and forth trying to get this resolved since December when the venue moved our wedding to February 2022 (not a prime date and totally out of season in Chicago).

View Quoted Comment

Notwithstanding what I previously said (as the full clause was not detailed when I wrote my original comment) – the clause you refer to suggests that a booking transferred will only be free of charge in the case of force majeure; that is, where the vendor is unable to perform their obligations because of x event covered by the clause. The clause doesn’t generally allow you to postpone without consequence purely for change of mind. Playing devil’s advocate here, unless Illinois law specifically prohibited weddings on the original date by reason of COVID-19, the pandemic will not have caused the vendor to have been unable to perform their services and the booking would therefore have been moved only by reason of your change of mind (in that you could have still gotten married on the original date, just not the way you originally envisioned it).

Although I’m not a lawyer in your country, I can’t give you legal advice, but, I will say this much – if I were the vendor’s lawyer, I would likely be telling them that they can charge a reasonable postponement fee but that they can’t increase their costs arbitrarily because of the postponement alone (that would be a penalty clause, though I don’t know if they’re legal in Illinois).

View Quoted Comment Thanks! That helps.

View Quoted Comment My fiance is Indian. 450 was a middle ground compromise with his parents. They originally just themselves had a list of over 800 people. We go from immediate family of 14 people to 300 people with no in between cuts possible. It's been quite a process to plan as we have been engaged since August of 2018 and now all we are facing a LOT of sunk costs.


Hopefully our attorney can write a letter to get this worked out. At this point I am just ready to be married and done with it all.

View Quoted Comment I can’t comment on your issue, but 800 people!
I don’t even know that many people even if I included random people I met in passing! How do you find a venue for that many people?!

I hope you get your videographer issues worked out. That’s a lot of money.

View Quoted Comment That just seems like a VERYYY expensive wedding easily 6 figures. Goodluck to you because I wouldn't have the time nor patience to even plan anything for that many people. Are you using a wedding planner?


Goodluck with your photographer issue I hope it all works out for you.

View Quoted Comment Thank you! It is a very expensive wedding, something I never dreamed I would have. In my fiance's culture this kind of celebration is the norm. My future mother in law has told me many times that they are throwing us the wedding they would have done for a daughter. We are so grateful for the portions they are covering and have put a lot of money in ourselves. If/When it does happen, it is going to be a fun celebration.


Also, the videographer issue has resolved itself. Less than an hour ago the videographer sent an email saying they no longer feel comfortable working with us and they are cancelling the contract so we will get a refund of our full deposit!

View Quoted Comment Did you threaten legal action? Sounds like they knew they were in the wrong to me.

View Quoted Comment Oh that is amazing 🙌🏾 Things are working out in your favor.

I would cancel with them and contact the better business bureau for a faster resolution than a lawsuit

5 400 is crazy money for the deposit. If the contract states you can postpone for free and they deny it, than yes, you should get an attorney. I'm pretty sure you'll win this case.