So we've started the planning and are working towards a Sept/Oct. 2013 wedding. We found a venue that we absolutely loved and wanted to book despite of the flat out lie about pricing when we toured the place which would result in a bill about $10,000 over what they insinuated. The day we called to give our $5000 deposit, the event manager called back 15 minutes later to tell us that the date that she gave us as available, was not available. The next available date was November 26. It left a horrible taste in our mouths so we got our money back (thank god) and moved on.
We found another more affordable venue this weekend. Toured on Saturday and looked at the availability. We even called back that night and said please let us know if anyone else asks about our date before you book (which they agreed to) because we were 99% sure we wanted to book but had an appointment with another venue the following day we wanted to check out first. We called back the following day ready to book! We were throwing our money at them but had to leave a message. I even emailed just to be sure the event salesperson would get the message. I didn't hear back so I called the event manager who we would end up working with later anyway. He finally called me back to tell me that he had sent a contract to someone for that date...they never sent it back so he offered it to someone else and they ended up declining but miraculously in the few minutes inbetween the two phone calls we had, the first couple came back and wanted the date. So he had to check with them because he had to honor that hold (after we were told they don't hold dates without a deposit and signed contract). So now here we are waiting to hear if we are getting screwed a second time.
Thanks for reading....I needed to lament. I'm about to give up on this wedding dream.