2021 Bride/Groom

This may have already been asked and answered in this thread. Has anyone gotten any information regarding minimum numbers payments if they are required to have say 25 ppl by restrictions. Are you still expected to pay the difference?

We have a minimum number of 100 adults for our venue for October next year and trying to decide what to do whether to postpone or just see what happens in the next few months.

Just to give our experience. We were told by our venue that in the event of number restrictions then our price would reflect this as we'd be paying per head. The hotel had a number of packages but because we wanted a Saturday with 80 guests they created a day for us based on individual costings.

Communication with them from the moment we decided to have our wedding there has been terrible. I told myself that its because they must be so busy with the changing restrictions and dealing with lots of different couples. We received on the 15th of October. Over a month since I gave our address for it to be sent. It had a number of errors in it and also didn't make any provision for what we were told about the numbers. So I put all that in an email. I expect a response in the new year

I am now feeling anxious that we will have to postpone due to Covid. It just isn't the kind of day we want. I would love the bells and whistles of hair and makeup, ceremony music, band, all that jazz. Our other option is moving it to summer time (October is our month) because, well maybe we will be a level 2 then like summer gone by. It's all a guessing game at this stage.

Eskie wrote: »

Have any 2021 brides/grooms chosen to have a back up date on reserve?

We haven't one yet but we are waiting until the new year to see how things stand. If we were having a smaller wedding then we would have picked a different venue. One of the places I had my eye on was Butler House in Kilkenny but they had a max of 50. I'm trying not to worry too much now.

XxMCRxBabyxX wrote: »

We haven't but my cousin who had postponed from June '20 to May '21 has now postponed again to May '22.

Have most people been in touch with their venues during the last while? We're due to get married in June and haven't really been in touch with the venue at all and were planning to wait until January before doing so. Should we be in more regular contact though?

We're May 2021 and have contacted them once since covid kicked off, in September, to discuss what the options were. They were great and advised waiting til January to think about which way we might go and see how things look after Christmas, so sounds like ye're on the same timeframe there.

Hi all, our wedding is June 2021, I contacted our venue to get a sense of how they are handling minimum numbers etc right now. Our contract is for 80 guests. The venue is an exclusive venue, they only do weddings.
I was informed that a new package has been drawn up for both 25 and 50 guest options. Both have an increase to the price per head, an increase to the Accommodation costs (with certain number of rooms to be taken), and on the 25 guest package, there is also now an added venue hire fee (€3500). (No venue hire fee as part of original contract).
Also, it is mentioned that if we wanted to postpone to 2022/2023, we can do so, booking at 2022/23 price per heads (increase to both package and accommodation rate) and also would have to pay a €2000 “postponement” fee, which would keep the exclusivity of the venue. This postponement fee could be waived, but venue would no longer be exclusive (which I don’t know how this would work).
If guidelines mean we can have 80 guests, we can stick with our original package. But banking on that is risky I feel.
I was really not expecting this kind of response, and at this point it’s too early to call what 2021 will look like. Our next deposit payment will be due in Dec (6mths from wedding). By that point we would have to be ok with the idea of taking the risk of dealing with 25 costs/ postponing fee as it would still be too early to know what status in June would be like. I really just feel this isn’t right and we are being made pay for all the losses incurred during this year. How can these kind of additional fees and restrictions be imposed? Is anyone else dealing with this type of scenario? Thanks

Michellenman wrote: »

NM123 that sounds really unfair of your venue, I’d be so disappointed with such massive changes like that.

Yes, it really took us by surprise. I struggle to understand how they could enforce such fees and limitations. It just doesn't seem like a reasonable approach to take and not sure where we stand now on it. I just wasn't sure if this is now the norm for similar venues, but from what i gather it is not...

NM123 wrote: »

Hi all, our wedding is June 2021, I contacted our venue to get a sense of how they are handling minimum numbers etc right now. Our contract is for 80 guests. The venue is an exclusive venue, they only do weddings.
I was informed that a new package has been drawn up for both 25 and 50 guest options. Both have an increase to the price per head, an increase to the Accommodation costs (with certain number of rooms to be taken), and on the 25 guest package, there is also now an added venue hire fee (€3500). (No venue hire fee as part of original contract).
Also, it is mentioned that if we wanted to postpone to 2022/2023, we can do so, booking at 2022/23 price per heads (increase to both package and accommodation rate) and also would have to pay a €2000 “postponement” fee, which would keep the exclusivity of the venue. This postponement fee could be waived, but venue would no longer be exclusive (which I don’t know how this would work).
If guidelines mean we can have 80 guests, we can stick with our original package. But banking on that is risky I feel.
I was really not expecting this kind of response, and at this point it’s too early to call what 2021 will look like. Our next deposit payment will be due in Dec (6mths from wedding). By that point we would have to be ok with the idea of taking the risk of dealing with 25 costs/ postponing fee as it would still be too early to know what status in June would be like. I really just feel this isn’t right and we are being made pay for all the losses incurred during this year. How can these kind of additional fees and restrictions be imposed? Is anyone else dealing with this type of scenario? Thanks

Hi NM123 , I know exactly how you feel, I think we have the same wedding venue, ? I contacted them two weeks ago and was told the very same they now have two new wedding packages for 25 /50 guests and have increased the price per head by a considerable amount. Our wedding was prosponed from this year until next March if level 3 restrictions our still in place by then (25 guests) we have to pay a venue hire fee of 3500? This was never mentioned in our original contract.

On questioning the venue about these price increases I was basically told as they our an exclusive wedding venue, the venue wasn't built to hold such small numbers, and in order for them to continue to operate currently and in the future they have to increase the prices or expect the minimum numbers in original contracts to be paid. Which basically mean they are making couples through no fault of their own foot the bill for the losses they have incurred. I think this is extremely unfair.

I would go ahead next year with only 25 or 50 guests no problem and pay the price in our original contract, but i am not agreeing to these new packages. I Will be getting onto a solicitor to see what my rights are and to see legally can the venue do this, as I feel they are breaking the contract.

Samsung20 wrote: »

Hi NM123 , I know exactly how you feel, I think we have the same wedding venue, ? I contacted them two weeks ago and was told the very same they now have two new wedding packages for 25 /50 guests and have increased the price per head by a considerable amount. Our wedding was prosponed from this year until next March if level 3 restrictions our still in place by then (25 guests) we have to pay a venue hire fee of 3500? This was never mentioned in our original contract.

On questioning the venue about these price increases I was basically told as they our an exclusive wedding venue, the venue wasn't built to hold such small numbers, and in order for them to continue to operate currently and in the future they have to increase the prices or expect the minimum numbers in original contracts to be paid. Which basically mean they are making couples through no fault of their own foot the bill for the losses they have incurred. I think this is extremely unfair.

I would go ahead next year with only 25 or 50 guests no problem and pay the price in our original contract, but i am not agreeing to these new packages. I Will be getting onto a solicitor to see what my rights are and to see legally can the venue do this, as I feel they are breaking the contract.

Hi there, yes this sounds the exact same. I can understand that some adjustments may be needed to cover a minimum cost on the very low numbers, but feel these options are extremely unreasonable and morally wrong. We get that a bit of flexibility on either side is needed in these times, but i feel these options are taking complete advantage of the situation. Considering that under these options, the price that would be charged for a wedding of 25 guests would be the same price as 50, can hardly be justified in my opinion

We’ve just provisionally held a date for spring 2022 in case we are not in at least level 1 by April 2021. The relief is unreal!

Anyone who has bought their dresses, are you concerned that they might not suit a Covid restriction wedding?

woodchuck wrote: »

How would it not suit? Presumably you still want to look your best on the day regardless. It shouldn't make a difference just because there is a smaller number of guests there to see it.

I'm more worried about Covid weight and not fitting into it anymore :rolleyes:

I was just thinking of standing outside the civil registry office in an elaborate floor length gown. For me certain dress styles suit certain wedding days. I was wondering what others thought.

eviltwin wrote: »

Lots of brides wear traditional weddings gowns to civil marriages, doesn’t look odd at all. Why would it?

Ok that's good. I was just wondering is all