Venue deposit refund?

For my wedding last year we had paid the first deposit back in 2019 to hold our date. Then Feb 2020 we had to pay our second deposit which was a large chunk. Then covid started happening. They weren't very willing to give our money back but were willing to change the dates and do what we wanted. Finally the government restrictions made it so we literally couldn't have our wedding which made it that the venue could not deliver what we paid for. We were forced to postpone because of the government not us choosing to cancel. The venue ended up giving us our second deposit back immediately. We postponed to this year and dont have to pay until a couple weeks out now instead of 3 months. Our first deposit we know we won't get back because thats the point of a deposit is so they don't loose money. Im not sure what you paid but you might be able to talk to them to work something out. I dont think its fair to expect all your money back because it is still a buisness but maybe some.

We signed papers to get a full refund if they aren’t able to provide what we want on the date our wedding is..
I’m wondering if there’s any sort of paperwork that maybe you could sign that if this date doesn’t work out that you could get a refund. Of course they probably should say no for their business but they might choose to be nice!

For my fiance and I, we can't cancel we can only postpone to another date. If we cancel completely, we will loose all the money that we've already put down for each vendor and our venue as well.

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It definitely sucks for all parties involved. I certainly don't envy any wedding vendors right now. This has got to be the hardest year they've ever had and I'm sure 95% of them are struggling to stay afloat. From what I've heard from other, most vendors have been doing their best to work with couples to make things work.

View quoted message I cant cancel. I can postpone if need be or i can go forward with guests but I have to pay no matter what. There is no point for us to cancel....

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That a great idea, thank you! We will bring that up to them.

I understand the business side of things and them trying to work with us but there needs to be a middle ground. I cant believe how these venues are running with our deposits when we arent getting anything on our end of the bargain anywhere close to our day!

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And exactly! We are aren't postponing our lives another day lol, we just want to start a family already!

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You are so lucky your venue is willing to refund the deposit! That is such a huge weight off Im sure if that what you end up doing. I dont think we will see a penny back

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This is so stressful, I can't believe you would have to still pay 75% even with restrictions. We aren't getting any help as customers of wedding vendors whatsoever.

Not only would we not get our deposit back we would have to pay for 75% of our wedding. We are past the agreed upon terms. We can only postpone or go with the numbers the province allows.

Our venue is willing to give deposits back.


We are in the same boat as you - engaged since 2018 and I’m not waiting 4 years to get married lol!

If your venue is trying to work with you to create a covid safe wedding or postpone your date I don't think you'll have much luck getting your deposit back since it will be your call to cancel. But it doesn't hurt to ask what your options are. Maybe you can see if they'd be willing to let you transfer the deposit to another wedding and you can try to sell your deposit to someone else?