XP: Advice please

badkittyct

So I was emailing my venue today with some questions leading up to my final meeting with them before their final payment and I feel slighted. There is a good chance we will not meet the 125 minimum we are contracted for. Okay fine. We know we have to pay for 125 no matter what. I ask about possible upgrades in the event of a significant difference in numbers (such as 110 actual guests) and am told that it is their policy not to upgrade.

Excuse me? You can take my money and stick it in your pocket and let it grow fat since you will not be serving all those additional meals but you can't compensate me by throwing in a specialty salad or an additional dessert plate but it is okay for you to keep my extra $100/pp for people who aren't there?! *sigh*

How should I approach this with the venue in the most tactful and profesional means I can?

PHughes819

Who is your venue?  I knew someone who recently went thru a similar issue and they were able to do the upgrades- but they also had about 20 people under the guarantee

BoldHart

that is VERY unrreasonable. When we negotiated our contract we negotiated for the dollar amount... not the head count. That way if we were a little short we could do exactly what you have in mind... upgrade dessert, cocktail hour etc. I think you should just mention that you have talked to friends and for many venues its common practice to give you something for the extra money you will be spending rather than just throwing your money away... sorry you have to deal with such stress so close to the big day!