CONTRACT ISSUES

apetrini

Ok, So i got a hold of my venue of choice last week, and they sent me a contract to sign, and it was only 4 paragraphs long!!! Less than 1 page!  I had many questions about it, which the sales manager answered via email, but she doesn't seem to get that I need it in the contract before I sign it.   

The thing that gets me the most, though, is the deposit.  It's 50% of the contract value, and completely non-refundable, even if the venue is unable to fulfill its obligations for whatever reason.  Is this normal?

Or am I wigging out over nothing?

chocolategirl3000

I would not be comfortable with that? Can you get reviews on this place? Maybe see if anyone has gone through this same process with this venue before? I would be neverous too....

ps my contract only required a 1500 deposit and we pay in incriments up until 2 weeks before the wedding when everything is due. Plus, our contract is 4 pages

Butter Cookie

No, I would be concerned too. Good for you for wanting everything in writing, especially if you're looking at those kind of non-refundable deposits. Keep pushing until you get the contract the way you want it.

AutumnFair

Ditto to BC. The more details of what should be expect of the vendor the better. My sister's best friend got burned by her photographer and it took her over 5 years to get her pictures, her contract never had a deadline so legally she really couldn't do anything about it besides calling, going over to the photographer's house to try to get her photos. So yes, get as much as you can from your venue and if needed negotiate with them on stuff like the 50% non-refundable deposit. 

matuofm

I don't know what's actually *normal,* since we haven't found our venue yet, but I'm with everyone else here.  I don't think that you're out of line for being nervous about this situation.  I understand the idea of non-refundable deposit if YOU back out, but simply logic dictates to me that if they back out and cause great havoc with your wedding, you should darnwell get your deposit back, if nothing else.

I'm in Detroit too...would it be rude of me to ask who you're dealing with?

arbolita

I would check ony our local Knot/Nest boards to see if anybody else used them as a wedding venue, and if they had the same sort of contact issues that you are having.  I agree with the others, I wouldn't sign anything that didn't have all the details/information to explicitly state all aspects of what they will/won't do for you.

apetrini

Thank you to all of you for your support in this.  I'm using  a specialized venue,the zoo, so I didn't know if it was due to that, or just lack of experience on their part.  I'm meeting with tehm on Tuesday to go over everything, so hopefully everything will go smoothly.