Venue Discrepancy

nerdpack · June 2013

First time poster here.

My fiancee and I found a great venue, for the exact number of people we have-it is perfect for us. We booked it last May (9/7/13 is date of ceremony) for the ceremony and the reception. When I was looking back on the contract it doesn't have the length of time for the even specified anywhere, which I need for the invites. Now the woman who coordinates all of this for us is saying "Our rental window is generally 4 hours of guest attendance. Some couples opt to rent an an extra hour, especially if they are planning to have the cermony here, in which case we prorate the rental and add on $498.75". That's an exact quote from the email.

Here is my dilemma-she never specified 4 hours to us in writing, and in person she told us it was 5 hours, but we could do 6 for an additional fee (again, not specified). We told her, in person, we wanted 6 hours (5-11p), so when we got the contract I figured it was for that time. I do not want to spend $800+ for an additional 2 hours, but if we stay with a 4 hour block no one will get to dance, just watch a ceremony and eat!

I know I should have gotten all of this in writing, and I am kicking myself for not doing it. The other problem is the woman is a coworker of my best friend and I don't want to cause any tensions between them.

What do I do?

AprilH81 · June 2013

Just call and ask them to specify the hours in the contract and that you had a verbal agreement on the longer hours. It may not be an issue once you ask nicely.

JMalettas · June 2013

You are definitely in a hard spot with this, and as you said, definitely should have gone over the contract & got everything in writing in the beginning! Technically, if the contract says 4 hours, that's what it is. Hopefully this woman will remember what she said, and out of the kindness of her heart, change the contract due to the misunderstanding for free. Although, she doesn't 'have' to.

I think your best bet would be to speak to this woman in person, & specify that you were under the understanding, (because she personally told you), that the room rental was for 5 hours, with the option of adding an additional hour. (Speaking to her in person will give you a better chance than speaking over the phone). You'll want to explain how crucial this is, and was, when booking the room, and had you known it was a 4 hour slot, and not a 5, that you would have had to financially weigh your options! You'll definitely want to go about this in a confident, forward, yet friendly manner. You can tell her how important it is to you that you have the space, and are planning on adding the additional hour, but really need it to stay as '5 hours, with the cost of the additional hour,' as you originally had planned. Explaining how appreciative you would be to get this all straightened out! Hopefully she'll be understanding, and for the sake of a 'happy costumer,' will do you this favour!

Good luck to you!! I hope you get it all straightened out in your favour!

*J

alithebride · July 2013

ask if you can adjust it?

QueerFemme · July 2013

Tell her that you were told verbally the rental period was 5 hours, but you could add the hour to make it 6. See if you can talk to management about it if she declines to accomodate you. However, since you have nothing in writing, you are almost lucky she isn't telling you 3 hours.

melb2013 · July 2013

I think you need to tell her what you verbally discussed. We had verbally discussed that there would be no other events on our wedding day- the coordinator had assured us of that, which is part of the reason why we went with that venue originally. It wasn't in writing. About 5 months before the wedding they said that they might book another wedding before ours and I said what had been verbally discussed. They honored their verbal agreement and nothing was booked before our wedding.

That being said, those time limits are very common. Ours was a 5 hour package. We paid a ceremony fee, which gave us an extra half hour. After that, it was a prorated amount per half hour. I've seen several locations with a 4 hour package.

monkeysip · July 2013

Ok, let's break this down.

Let's say your ceremony is 5:00-5:30 (I'm ASSUMING this is not a long, religious ceremony or anything, but feel free to correct me)

Cocktail hour is 5:30-6:30

At 6:30, or even 6:15, someone can say the blessing or any short toasts, and dinner is served at 6:30 or 6:45.

At 7:30, you can cut the cake and open up the dance floor. People will have an hour an a half to dance at that point. Or 2.5 hours if you pay for another hour. That's really plenty of time. If you're still in the mood to party afterwards, you, your husband, and a few others can go to a bar/club or something for a little after party.

But I agree with others that you should first just talk to the venue about your previous time agreement. They may have no problem honoring it.

Venue Discrepancy

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