Wedding a Month out and Wedding Venue Now Unable to Supply Accomodation

Ltrufflebum on 04/04/2019 - 23:14
Last edited 05/04/2019 - 09:22 by 1 other user

Hi all,

Your opinions would be much appreciated.

Booked in a newish venue for a wedding in a farm area setting approx 6 months ago.

Our first visit, the reception area was still in the works, the accomodation was already in use and is beautiful, and the ceremony area was and is still yet to be determined.

The venue itself is quite new but the vendor themselves run a restaurant relatively near and are very well established.

Fiancé and I generally enjoy the food of the restaurant, loved the style of their accomodation, saw potential in the reception area due to the styling of the accomodation upstairs and while no wow factor on the potential ceremony grounds it’s a decent piece of farmland. The idea of having all that in one location just ticked our boxes.

Communications back and forth confirmed the venue for ceremony and reception, the accomodation, and the catering.

Between then till now the venue has been used for small events (dining and accomodation) one of which we attended to check out the progress of the place - reception/dining area looked good!

Ceremony area still TBC as there are a few spots to consider, but not much “flat ground” areas which may be necessary for marquees in wet weather scenarios.

Initial small deposit paid last year, then a couple of weeks ago part 1 of the bigger deposit was requested and we promptly paid.

Today, we were advised the accomodation has outstanding DA approvals and as such they are now unable to provide this aspect for our wedding day.

Original plan was for bridesmaids and I to stay the night before then hubby and I to stay the night of. Now it seems we must find alternative accomodation and also additional transportation.

Vendor has suggested a nearby alternative accomodation option but did not state they will be covering the costs for new accomodation or transport that is now needed to get to and from the venue on the wedding day as opposed to walking…. (farm area so a car is definitely needed to travel from alternative location to the venue)

Considering the accomodation played a major role in our decision making process we are super bummed!

While we are understanding of their situation we are a month out on our wedding and now scrambling to find accomodation and transport options (not to mention the additional finances we were not expecting to spend)

Does the vendor have the responsibility of providing accomodation and transport to the venue as they had previously advertised it to be available at point of inspection and confirmed booking with the wedding event?

While unlikely to cancel the event as we are getting close and some guests have preplanned their trip, if I choose to do so,
do I have the right to request for a full refund of all deposits as they have ceased a major part of their provided services/facility?

Any thoughts/suggestions?

General Discussion Wedding

Comments

  • altomic on 04/04/2019 - 23:28
    +5

    Yes, get a full refund and rebook everything elsewhere

    • spackbace on 04/04/2019 - 23:42
      +6

      Such a simple process a month out too!

      OP - get a refund on the accommodation portion, pay for transport and rock up in something nice

  • SmiTTy on 04/04/2019 - 23:37
    +1

    Have a read of your contract, but I would suggest you threaten to cancel (even if u won't) if they won't pay for your transportation

  • johndowy on 04/04/2019 - 23:40
    +2

    1: No, vendor not responsible.

    2: I'm super worried about this sentence.

    (not to mention the additional finances we were not expecting to spend)

    Don't start a marriage with a huge debt.

    3: Cancel and get a refund should be proper if they do not fulfil their end of the contract.

  • [Deactivated] on 04/04/2019 - 23:50

    Fly by nighters without proper approvals are a big problem in the wedding industry, we got caught out ourselves booking a venue that didn't have all the approvals then had to cancel on us 8 months out due to noise complaints (and I can understand why these venues are in semi rural areas and people have paid a lot of money for the land etc so they can not hear their neighbours). I have read of a number of other similar stories on wedding facebook pages.

    Was the accomodation included in the package? If it was then you should be refunded/compensated for not getting accomodation.

  • AustriaBargain on 04/04/2019 - 23:56

    Get tough with them and take the vendor's master bedroom the night before.

    • ravonda on 05/04/2019 - 10:27

      You forgot to mention that they'll need to pee around the room to assert dominance too!

  • Some Human on 05/04/2019 - 00:26
    +1

    Any thoughts/suggestions?

    TLDR

    • Daabido on 05/04/2019 - 00:39
      +1

      Less than 500 words is too much?

    • brad1-8tsi on 05/04/2019 - 07:43
      +2

      So much padding… It's like listening to one of Mum's clients at the hairdressers.

    • Illian on 05/04/2019 - 13:24

      Oh boy, wait until you discover what books are!

  • GangGang on 05/04/2019 - 01:01
    +3

    They know you won't cancel. It will be impossible to book another venue within 4 weeks, let alone a photographer, car hire, accommodation, etc.

    You have people that have pre planned so I'm guessing changing the date isn't an option anyway?

    Get the refund for the accommodation & try and push extra for the inconvenience. Maybe extra food platters or bar tab.

  • RockyRaccoon on 05/04/2019 - 03:07
    +1

    So what’s more important getting married or your wedding?

    Sounds like the latter.

    And why ask here, it’s a bargain site and this ain’t no bargain wedding.

    Oh yes I forgot another newbie one hit posting

    • burningrage on 05/04/2019 - 10:39

      Ozbs maybe needs to run consultancy biz. Lots of these sort of posts these days.

  • crashloaded on 05/04/2019 - 07:44

    I would raise the issues about refund now, then if it's not simple to mediate a result, compromise by staying at the venue and sorting out what you need to. I think planning another venue in a month will be too stressful. After you have had your wedding and honeymoon or whatever, sue them or at least get a solicitor to draft a letter saying you will be pursuing the breach of contract through litigation.

    Do not sign anything further saying you have agreed to their new proposal unless you receive a refund you are happy with.

  • original15 on 05/04/2019 - 08:41

    It’s pretty obvious they should be refunding the cost of the accommodation component and you’ll just have to stay somewhere else.
    While annoying to organize alternative transport, it would be far more annoying to book entire venue elsewhere. Just get a family member with a decent car to do the drop offs, realistically no extra cost. Or borrow some horses and ride across the paddocks for a killer entrance

    • trufflebum on 05/04/2019 - 14:52

      Love the horses idea! Will look into it….

  • djones145 on 05/04/2019 - 14:41

    depending on whether we see this op again either

    place a bag of flaming poo at the door and watch them step and put it out
    or
    depending on the contract, if the accommodation is included ask for a refund of that proportion and a bit of compensation. u can tell them you will write them a glowing comment on how they bent over backwards due to unforeseen ciricumstances

    • AustriaBargain on 05/04/2019 - 17:54

      Tell them you will use ifttt.com to automatically leave a scathing review whenever someone mentions their business name on social media. It's easy and free to do.

  • cloudy on 05/04/2019 - 21:12

    One month out?!?! Good luck!

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