How can I get out of an expensive wedding deposit?

Question

The wedding date we booked is over 6 months away and we put down $9k from my fiance's parents and now my family cant come up with the rest :( please help!! I need to get them their money back...thank you!

Answer 1

ok, firstly check your contract. do they say that you get the full deposit back if you cancel before a certain amount of time? if that is six months them just cancle and get the money back. If it is nine months to a year talk to them about pushing the wedding back a bit past their time limit (maybe 5 months). Have them write you up a completely new contract with the new days and everything.

Then wait a few months and cancel while you are still outside the time limit. You may lost a little on the first transfer, but better than losting all of it.

An alternative would be that you push the wedding back so you have time to save for it yourselves.

Answer 2

Just tell the cake people that you can no longer have a cake of that size and need to downsize. They should give you your money back of whats left over. If you want all of the money back you can just make up something and say we hit a bump in the road and are no longer together !! haa and find a new one?

Answer 3

I doubt that you can just get out of it without penalty from whomever you paid the deposit to (is it a planner, venue, caterer?) but you might be able to. If you can't, the best option would probably be to find a way to come up with the money fast, then pay that back. I think it's a way better option than your in-laws losing 9 grand for nothing. Also, I'm wondering why whomever you paid the deposit to even accepted less than what they asked for. I sure hope they didn't assume you wouldn't be able to pay rest or anything shady like that. Money is a S****y, necessary evil. You should be able to have a beautiful, memorable wedding day without it, but everything is so inflated that it's near impossible. I'm sorry for your predicament.  

Answer 4

girl some people can hold an entire wedding for $9,000 lol. Usually the point of a deposit is to lock in the date and if you cancel, they still get something out of it for holding the date. They may have had 10 people ask to book on the day and they have your deposit o they tell them that its unavailable. I highly doubt you are going to get it back unfortunately. If you dont want to lose $9,000, you might have to find another way to find the rest. Good luck, hope it works out!

Answer 5

Tell them that the family is having financial difficulty and you want to know the possibility of getting the deposit back since you can no longer afford their venue.  

Answer 6

You need to review the contract that was signed, if any.  Sometimes the contract allows for a cancellation with a small cancellation fee.  If the wedding is six months out I'm sure you could get most of the money back--you're not cancelling at the last minute so the venue can't claim it's losing money.  It hasn't suffered any damages yet.  If the wedding is spring of '09, then they have plenty of time to rent the space out, and catering hasn't bought your food yet.  Usually a contract spells out cancellation fees in relation to the event date:  the closer the date, the higher the fee.  If there's no contract, then just demand the money back, and take them to small claims if you have to.   Actually, his parents would have to sue them, since they're the ones who put down the deposit.  

Telling them that the engagement is off is probably most helpful.  If the hotel/venue is still uncooperative, hire an attorney to write a letter, or contact your local TV station's community advocate to put your story on TV:  sometimes bad publicity motivates the company to give your money back.    

Good luck!  

Answer 7

Check out your contract and see what it says about canceling. But typically that is what a deposit is for partially, so that if you back out, they don't lose money for holding the date. You'll be lucky to get it back, but check the contract.