I attended a evening wedding reception at the HOLIDAY INN SOUTHAMPTON. I drove around the car park twice but didn't see any signage about parking fees. I parked my car and went in through the side door of the hotel which was hired out for the wedding party and guests. I was very upset and shocked yesterday to receive a parking fine for £60 through the post. I telephoned the HOLIDAY INN straight up and explained I was a guest to the wedding of ?? and ??, on the 14 July but she said there was nothing she could do. Do I just pay it and not have a leg to stand on? I have never had to deal with anything like this before so thats £60 down the drain

Hi, I'm in a legal dispute with my wedding photographer/videographer and issued a court claim against him over a month ago claiming a specific settlement amount. He didn't deliver on his promise re: services, and we ended up with sub-standard wedding photos and terrible low-quality unedited footage as our wedding video (complete with raw sound from the day e.g. people walking around, chattering etc.) He then completely stopped communicating with us. After issuing the claim via MoneyClaim Online (to his business address), he sent an envelope back to the court with a note saying 'Gone away'. The court sent this back to me along with the claim form without any further instruction. I know he is actively operating at that address, and 'Gone away' doesn't mean the address is invalid, so don't know why they've sent it back to me. What should I do? Should I issue a warrant via MoneyClaim Online, or is there a better way? I'm so frustrated. I cannot let him get away with this, and am furious that he's simply brushing it off! Thanks.

Hello, The following issue has been on going since 24th December 2017. Looking for a bit of advice. On the 4th November I messaged a photographer on Facebook messagner with regards to providing wedding photography. He replied and advised he required a £100 deposit to secure the booking. He send the invoice to my email address with stated the deposit, name of the company and the following message “ by paying the amount above you are agreeing to the terms and conditions at (insert company’s website) “ I paid te £100 via goods and services on pay pal I did not receive tt se terms and conditions, I was not guided to where on the website they were (at the bottom of a very .. long .. packages page”. I emailed two days later asking when I would receive a contract for the booking to win, I was told then by paying the deposit I was in contract and that was sufficient I emailed a Facebook page and reviews of supplies and was told he was the most complained about supplier in the UK by not providing a good service.. saying there will be more than one photographer and one turns up etc. So on 24th we emailed saying we wished to cancel due to lack of contract and transparently. He emailed sayingthats fine but we need to pay a £200 fee to cancel. I contacted citizens advice telling me to send a recorded letter in addition to the email I send which he contacted and said he would be sending debt collectors and his lawyer is looking after this for him .. The wedding in 852 days away from cancelling and wen I read trading standards- companies can put a cancellation fee in that’s reasonable due to loss of profit or business. I felt the notice I’ve provided is sufficient. The terms and conditions weren’t actually given to me, he has now threatened us with debt collectors and said “the invoice clearly states that you have 14 days to cancel. But the invoice does not clearly state that. I’ve contacted citizens advice who will pass it to trading standards but they take 10 working days to make a decision. Any help as to where we stand would be great (Additional note) the photographer stated e was a memeber f the Scottish wedding photographer and portrait society but I contacted them and he is not a memeber.

I put a £900 deposit down on a dress in October 2016 with a small wedding dress shop. I signed a contract that said that it is not possible to have a refund of the deposit. It was ordered and when the dress arrived in March, I went into store to try it on. It had loose threads and rows of beading falling off the front of the dress (costing £1700 in total). The store assistant apologized and said that it was not good. I left the store and the dress in their care and said that we would try and sort something out. I had to leave and I did not take photos. A family member and the store assistant witnessed the poor quality. I decided afterwards that it was not good enough and I just wanted a refund as time was ticking on the wedding and I was worried that it would fall apart on the day. They offered to sort it out which I rejected due to inconvenience. I sent them an email and then an official letter quoting the consumer goods act, how they had breached the contract and that the store assistant had already agreed that it was unsatisfactory quality. The owner is continuously saying that it is satisfactory quality and the manufacturer has offered to have a professional adjudicator prove this. They have said that I am not entitled to have my deposit back. I am concerned that they have fixed the dress since I went and that this adjudicator would not be impartial. What can I do next? I feel that the matter has been handled unprofessionally but we are arguing about what is satisfactory quality. For the price of the dress, I would have expected it to be perfect but it really was not good enough and I am a reasonable person. I work away so its really hard for me to get back to the shop to sort anything out. What can I do?

Our daughter got married and had her reception at our local golf club. The venue seemed perfect until the actual day. The photographs at the venue where restricted due to the golf. What and where we could have photos taken was not allowed on the day. We had 26 children on a very hot day banned from leaving the venue as they may upset the golfers. None of this was told us at any meetings. When the food was served they served the back tables and the top table the last. The pate was a sloppy mess The food was cold - the roast beef was dry and the turkey was chewy. The functions manager screeched in my face over the table plan not being right. - turned out that a table of 12 guests had not liked the table they had been given so swapped tables. Which I had not been told. She was not in control at many points during the service. We had 106 sit down guests and only 3 people working and serving the food. We have been charged for 20 bottles of red/white wine but 4 tables never got any wine? they can't account for where these went. On the top table where I was sat we had 1 bottle of red - 2 bottles of rose which was for the bride and groom as I only drink white. The food would have been perfect if it was hot but over 10 of our guests have complained. The Toast - myself and the grooms father were given 1 glass of prosecco between the 2 of us. When I asked for a glass the functions manager snapped at me for the second time. The meal took so long to be served my brother who is a diabetic had a hypo and was taken ill in the toilet. It ended up he had to go home as he was to ill to continue. During the service the Function Manager approached me again to say that there were 3 people with no meals and why?? I had emailed her the 3 meals the night before as I was unable to get her by phone as she was in a meeting. She had not read her emails. She was again rude to me. When serving the prosecco to one of the tables they had been buying their own prosecco. She refused them 10 glasses as she said they already had it. Even though it was their own bottle. The FM - approached me after the cake was cut to say she was so sorry but she had inadvertently cut the top tier. She has since lied to her boss and said that there was no arrangement in place for the top tier not to be cut. But the meeting the night before we went through it with her. She cut up 3 tiers of cake and denied that we asked her not to. When we collected the cake in the morning it was wrapped in foil all stuck together and cannot be given to guests at all. Its just a mushed up mess. At the evening recption the FM had a run in with my cousin over the fact he has brought his own alcohol into the building. I asked her to leave him to me and I would get him to leave. But she wouldn't leave it for me to sort the situation and ended up in confrontation with him. He has a volatile temper and if not handled properly he can become aggressive. I managed to calm the situation, in which he handed over the alcohol and left the reception. She has however told her boss that I condoned the situation and did little to help. This is a downright lie and what I managed to do was get a person to leave the reception without any trouble. Our evening buffet - I asked for a buffet for only 60 people knowing my family and having had over 20 years experience in functions. The FM was against a buffet for only 60 people. She did not give me a choice. The buffet was served at 8.30 only 2 hours after the main meals had finihed. People were just not hungry. By 9pm she was clearing the food. Some of the guests asked to take some of the buffet home and we said yes. When they tried to take the food the FM told them to leave it as it was being taken away. There was at least 30-40% of food being taken away. Trays of sausage rolls, quiches, pork pies, salad etc. I tried on several occasions to calm the FM down and she just snapped at me. She was just not in control. The upshot of all this is we are so unhappy with the service. The food etc. We have asked that we are compensated for the top tier to be replaced as they cut it. They have said no. We asked for a refund of the food that we lsot due to wastage - after telling her we only wanted a buffet for 60 people and not 100. They have said no. They undercharged us by 10 bottles of Merlot - but which tables got it as many of our guests said they had no wine. They also claim that they undercharged us by 11 glasses of prosecco. In 7 days the bill has risen by £159.49. Having already paid £3060 we still owe for the evening buffet of £732 and the £159.49. We have explained our unhappiness with the venue and the functions manager but the owner doesn't want to know. He has refferred the matter his solicitor to pursue it in the small claims court. We are prepared to go to court but doesn anyone have any avice for us?

Hi all, This is on behalf of a friend who got married just over a year ago and has had really bad experience from her photographer. The photographer himself / company was a recommendation and all the usual steps were taken in vetting him and his team, seeing is work, talking to a few others etc before the contracts were signed. On the day, he was really unprofessional demanding extra money or his departure nearing the end due to the wedding getting a little delayed - not something a bride wants to hear on the her big day. In contrast, my own wedding with another photographer stayed almost 5 hours after the event for free! It was later found out he was also very loud and shouting to guests in trying to get photographs etc. Fast forward to last Jan, the bride received her first draft of pictures. According to the contract, she had a year to vet them and so in November 2015, they were vetted only to find a huge section of the event was missing. This included all the lunch/dinner photos but more importantly, all the group shots with the bride and groom (50+ images minimum here). What was more distressing is her father in law had passed away soon after the wedding and these images would have been the last ones to have been captured. Despite it being within a year, the photographer tried to use this as an excuse that he no longer has the originals and would not be able to get them back - Something just not done by a good photographer - most keep all their photos as part of their portfolio! He then offered a £100 refund out of "goodwill" His actual response was as follows: I have managed to locate the master back up images in finalised JPG format and I have reviewed and taken on board your comments in respect of the missing group shots. Having looked through everything I hold, I have come to the realisation that there are approx 50-60 group images missing. Unfortunately I am unsure why/when or how these are missing, whether they have been deleted after the completion or when original transferring the images from my camera onto desktop. "Due to the above and complying with my terms of contract, I can agree that I am happy to compensate you the pro-rata fee for the missing images as you have requested. In accordance to the fees paid, the pro-rated compensation is £42.63 however I am happy to round this up to £100.00 as a gesture of goodwill. Breakdown of the £42.65 is £4450.00 fees paid for 5219 pictures handed over x 50 missing images = £42.63" A letter was sent back demanding an explanation on 1. how so many images were "lost" 2. As a professional photographer, surely he would have noticed in the 6 months+ of vetting/sorting, that such as major part of the wedding was missed out? 3. Apparently "some" images mysteriously re-appeared during the back and forth of emails and messages - how? With a concluding line that a part so called goodwill gesture refund is not enough if anything - it does not reflect his integrity at all. His response was simply: We were surprised by the complaint raised considering the images were provided to you approximately 10 months ago and to date you had given no indication of your dissatisfaction. As a result of our services over 5000 images were provided to you which covered the entire occasion. We have looked into and considered your various points raised and I must advise our original offer of £100.00 in respect of the missing images remains. For the reasons set out above we feel that we have performed our contract with you in the terms set out therein and we therefore consider this matter finalised. To enable us to make payment to you please arrange for supporting bank account to be forwarded so that we can arrange an immediate bank transfer to you. So where do they stand? I think they've accepted the photos and memories are lost forever and it was never about the money itself. But now that he has accepted that the photos are lost - why should they not go for a higher amount? Or are they contractually bound by the amount stated? I see two parts - the service was not delivered as per what was discussed and signed off despite the clause that missing images would = x * £x.xx Thanks in advance!

We booked our wedding at the beginning of this year. Our wedding was to take place in Summer 2016 and we put down a 12% deposit to secure our date. The wedding venue is brand new and was still unfinished when we booked. However there were two weddings booked for this summer, so we knew the venue had to be finished within a few months of us making our booking. When we booked there was no license in place for civil ceremonies to take place, but we were assured this would all be done by the beginning of August 2015. We have all of this in writing. We recently heard from the venue who told us that both weddings booked for this year had been cancelled. We were told the cancellations were nothing to do with the venue, though we are not so sure this is the case. We then received further communication from the venue, explaining that all renovations were now going to be put on hold due to personal problems (relationship breakdown). We were told the venue would be ready in time for our wedding but were not given any idea when the work would restart or how long it would take, despite asking for this information. In addition, the license for ceremonies has still not been granted, although we have recently found out this 'should' be in place by November. Communication from the owners has now become quite snippy, rude and unprofessional. As well as the venue we also have other suppliers booked, inc photographers, caterers etc. The venue was very unique and the majority of suppliers cannot be used elsewhere. We have around £1000 worth of deposits put down on these. We have already decided we are not going to go ahead with the wedding as planned. We did not get the reassurance we wanted from the venue and we did not want to spend the next year worrying about our plans. We are prepared to lose the deposits we have paid out if we need to, as we feel this is a small price to pay for peace of mind, but ideally of course we do need to recoup as much of the money as we can. I am just wondering if anyone can advise where we stand with regards to getting our deposits back? I am guessing with suppliers it would be down to their goodwill as to whether or not they wanted to refund, but what about the venue? We do have wedding insurance but they were not interested when I called them. We haven't been in touch with anyone so far to let them know that we will be cancelling the wedding, but would like to get this done ASAP as it is hanging over us.

Hi, After some advice (as are most people here I guess!) We paid in full for the services of a photographer for our wedding, in August 2015. Due to personal circumstances we've cancelled the whole day, therefore we don't need a photographer any more! I called (and emailed) her to inform her of the cancellation, only to be told she "couldn't take that much of a loss, Ill give you 100% of your money back if I get another booking on that day" So in other words she's keeping all £800 we gave her! a £200 deposit was agreed to secure the date, there is no mention of this being 'non-refundable' We didn't sign a contract, however we received the following in writing after paying the deposit' 'Deposit for wedding photography to be taken at venueX, on date X. To include all photographs & Album X. Total £200 bank transfer, received with thanks" How can we get her money back? We were more than willing to forfeit the £200 even though there was no non-refundable statement, but we cant just throw £800 away Many thanks Rich

Hello, I'll try and keep this concise. Parents bought a pair (diamonds cut from the same rough stone) of wedding rings maybe 4 or so years ago. Last year my mother lost the diamond out of her ring, which was considered to be a manufacturing defect rather than accidental damage. After a bit of back and forth, jeweller agreed to replace the stone but this would detract from the idea of having 2 diamonds cut from the same stone. Some more back and forth and they agreed to replace the stones in both rings. About 9 months(!) after all this started, jeweller tells us they've lost the rings in transit. Frustrated to say the least and I'm sure I don't need to explain the sentimental value of these rings to my parents. We asked for money back and compensation (because it really has been an ordeal and a half going through all of this) because they don't want to re-invest in the same jeweller, but rather go elsewhere. Jeweller offered either the original cost of the rings (£600) plus £50 compensation, or £1200 in vouchers (the RRP) to spend in-store at the same place. They don't want to go for the latter option considering what I've mentioned in the previous paragraph, but £50 compensation is a bit of a joke, especially in light of their other offer. I have no idea where to go from here. I'd like to say my parents would be entirely reasonable to expect a greater amount, though I wouldn't want to put any number on that. So my question(s): would it be reasonable to pursue a greater amount of compensation and if so, how might we go about it? Any help would be much appreciated!

I sign on again next Monday but I have a wedding to go to on that day. What do I do? I wont be able to attend that day at all :/ Do i lose my money? thanks in advance:!:

Hi all, Looking for some advice. Me and my partner are due to get married in a few months time. We are looking to secure a personal loan of around 10k to pay for it. The problem we have is that whilst my partners credit score I s excellent (967) mines is poor (556). We have applied for a loan in my partners name and it was declined. This is due to the mortgage and car loan along with a credit card being in her name. She only works part time and I am the main earner in the household. We are looking for advice on what to do as we would be able to repay any loan easily but are struggling to obtain credit due to my partner being over committed. We're not sure if A joint application would work. Any advice would be greatly appreciated. Thanks

So i have a family wedding coming up soon. The groom has fallen out with his mum several years ago and does not want her at the wedding. The mum is adamant she is coming to view the ceremony at the church. Is the following i have been told correct? Anyone can come to view the wedding inside the church because its public, you cannot ban or stop anyone entering. The mum cannot be removed unless she makes a scene. In fact if anyone tries to remove her or starts to 'kick off' they can actually get into trouble themselves? Thanks for any help clearing things up and have pity on this usher.

Need some help. a cousin of mine made a car hire booking over the phone and a deposit was taken ( balance cash on the day). now he has cancelled before the function and the rental company is threatening to take full payment and fight over the balance in court. no signing of contract has taken place. is the car hire firm well within their rights to do this? thx

Hi This is my first time posting here and would be grateful for any help and advice which could be provided. I am due to get married in a coupe of months at a venue which is a National Heritage Trust building, for which we paid a 20% deposit around February this year after seeing the venue and agreeing terms with the company which run events at the venue. Around late September we found out by chance, whilst looking for a wedding florist, that the roof at the venue was deemed structurally unsound and is presently being propped up by scaffolding, including some in the room where we are due to be married (wedding ceremony and reception both to be held in the same room). This had apparently been the case since mid August, although the venue had not notified us and it turned out that they had had to cancel a couple of weddings and move a couple to a large marquee in the lawns. Had we not found out through the florist, who knows when they would have advised us and we are aware that one of the other weddings which went ahead was only given 72 hours notice of the problems. Naturally we contacted them at this stage and they advised that they were waiting on a structural surveyors report. When this eventually came out, they advised that works would not commence until January and we would have to get married in the room with scaffolding which they have attempted to cover up. The room however looks terrible in comparison and my bride to be was naturally very upset. We have now found an alternative and are considering switching venues although this does present us with a couple of problems. A number of guests have already booked rooms at the adjoining hotel (also part of the trust but run and managed by an entirely separate entity to those that run weddings at the main hall) and the hotel are refusing to hand back any deposits, despite cancellation being requested around 7-8 weeks in advance. My questions is, would we have any recourse to having the wedding venue reimburse us for the cost of these deposits should we lose ours as well as the cost of a wedding license change? Are we able to claim for any additional costs we incur as a result of this change? Alternatively, would we have any recourse against the company that run the Hotel to return our deposits? I really have no place to start so any advice or guidance would be hugely appreciated.

I have booked a local venue for a wedding renewal next year, they have stipulated a list of suppliers for services such as chair covers etc that I "have" to use ! However I have already found companies that I would like to use. Can they legally force me to use their preferred companies ????

Good Morning, I hope someone can help. We recently Married, and had booked a very expensive Manor Hotel for our Wedding Breakfast for 63 people. There were several meetings prior to the Wedding, and the Menu's were distributed to all guests, and choices made well in advance. The venue was stunning, however the Breakfast was thoroughly disappointing. The service was appalling (the top table had finished their courses before the last table had been served), This will sound bad mannered but the food was only warm when it arrived, and on cold plates so if we had not started as soon as we received our plates, the food would have been inedible. The menu was described as "Fine Dining" many of our guests regularly eat in such establishments, and this definately wasnt. A new Head Chef had just been appointed, but surely that should not have made a difference, we have made our feelings known to the owners in a polite manner, but we have just received excuses back, and no effort to rectify anything. There were so many problems which I will not bore you with here, but any help to rectify this situation would be gratefully appreciated. Many thanks

Just need a bit of advice about my DMP. I'm expecting a pay rise in April and would like to save some of it to help pay for my wedding in September when i call them to give them my new budget. Does anyone know if this is possible, or will the banks see it as an unnecessary expense? I thought the DMP was going to be a life saver, while it has obviously eased stress it also makes me feel like my life is on hold. We are getting married in September and hoping my future father in laws will make it until then as he is quite ill, if it wasn't for his illness we would probably be putting it off because of the money. Regardless of this i only intend on getting married once and I still want to have my dream wedding so I feel like i need to contribute so that i can have more input.

Hi This is my first post on the forum, and hoping you guys can help. In 2007 I got married to my lovely wife, and we had all the usual wedding photos taken (600 I believe). At the time we did not have a lot of money so just had an album off the photographer. He said if we wanted the wedding disc it would cost another £300. We thought we'd save up for it, or have the money to buy it some time later. Anyway the photographer went out of business, but we managed to get his mobile number if we needed to get in touch. At the time he said he would not be changing the number. Some time later we now have the funds to buy the wedding disc, but the photographer has disappeared, and the phone number no longer works. We have tried to track him down, asked other photographers, used online people searches, etc but no luck. Does anyone have any ideas how we could find him? I believe we should have some rights but not sure what we can try? Any help is much appreciated. Jason

Copy of letter sent this week says it all. Let's see if we get a response - based on experience so far, I doubt it: Wednesday 28th November 2012 Re holiday booking ref: 3xxxxxx In the name of [my parents] I'm writing to you on behalf of my parents, named above. They're in Madeira right now, on the 2nd of 2 trips they saved up for this year to celebrate their 50th wedding anniversary. Upon booking the first trip - to Ibiza - they were assured by your in-branch rep that they'd get a fruit basket, champagne and an upgrade as a gesture for their special occasion. Nothing doing. So they left it at that. They're nearly 70 - they don't like to make a fuss - they put it down to a misunderstanding. At my encouragement, however, they mentioned the issue when booking this Madeira trip (booking reference at the top of this letter). The agent at the branch (Arnold, Nottingham) was 'mortified' and assured them that she'd fix it for them. They were excited at the gesture and looking forward to everything. Four days before departure, my father popped in to confirm everything and your rep assured him that an email had gone on 12th November to the hotel and 'everything was confirmed'. You can imagine his surprise, therefore, when he and my mother arrived at the hotel to see 3 other couples who'd been on their flight get upgraded to celebrate their (shorter than 50 years) anniversaries - and for my father? The response that no notification had been sent through so nothing could be done and they'd have to wait for the rep the next day. My mother was very upset as I discovered when I called on their first night to ensure they were having a lovely time. So*I called your branch in Arnold, Nottingham where this holiday was booked and where, again, 4 days before departure, my father was reassured that these special things would be waiting for him. I spoke to a lady who looked up the booking and confirmed that - on 12th November - a request for these things had been sent to the hotel but she maintained there was nothing more the store could do. She couldn't (wouldn't?) call the hotel or fax through the screen shot of the email or call your local rep. She wouldn't even call head office. When I asked for a number to do that myself, she told me these wasn't one - that there's no way for customers to contact your HQ with issues. All she could give me was a number for agents and she 'couldn't guarantee they'll even speak to you because you're a customer'. Would she phone them then? No, there was nothing more she could do. When I called the number, a recording told me it was no longer operational. Fantastic service experience so far. Meanwhile, back in Madeira, your rep arrived the next day with the same response - no message from the branch who'd sold the holiday = no anniversary treats. She did offer to write a report (yay! Very exciting for the anniversary celebrants) and to 'try' to arrange fruit basket and wine. So what does that result in? A plate with 2 bananas, an apple and an orange and a mini bottle of sparkling wine. Nice but good enough? Not really. So disappointment again. Her other remark - admittedly delivered with a smile - ''Well, your anniversary date's passed now (it was whilst in Ibiza) so it doesn't really matter because it's too late'. What a delightful response. No offer to connect to branch. Negotiate with hotel. To try to join the dots. In the meantime, having chatted to one of the lucky recipients of that elusive sea-view upgrade, my parents discover that the rooms on either side of them are empty. But hotel and rep alike say no rooms are free. It's extraordinary to me that - whilst your online site, your high street stores and your reps work in perfect harmony to allow people to spend money with you - that synchronicity disappears almost immediately when it comes to resolving an issue or providing a customer experience that's likely to generate positive word of mouth and repeat business. I'm not operating under any illusion here. I highly doubt you'll read this, let alone respond to it. And I'm pretty certain you'll make no attempt to offer something to my parents by way of an apology or long-overdue celebration of their anniversary. So instead of waiting to hear back from you, I'm going to spend my time posting this story on travel-related social media sites so that other potential customers of yours can truly appreciate the special service touch offered by Thomson. Feel free to prove me wrong. Yours sincerely [new cagger]

We hired a barn as a wedding venue for our daughters wedding. The barn was advertised as a wedding venue and had a wedding licence. The barn is used solely for functions with a kitchen, bar, hard carpeted floor etc. The charge for hire for 4 days was £2900. On the surface the venue looked ideal and fitted in with the theme my daughter had decided on for the wedding. We took over hire on the Thursday before a Saturday wedding - the first things we had to do was set to work on cleaning the toilets that were in a disgusting state, cobwebs adorned the walls of the barn and all had to be brushed down and then the floor cleaned. The area outside the main doors was covered in cigarette ends and the kitchen surfaces cleaned and disinfected. We laid out the tables and set places for the 70 guests and all was set by the Friday night. On checking the barn on the Saturday morning rat droppings were discovered on the tables and it was decided that all the cutlery should be washed again. also a box of chocolates that had been left in the kitchen had been eaten by rats. During the evening the electricity supply to the barn was continually going off plunging our guests into darkness - the owners representative blamed our bands equipment but it was proved later to be a fault in the barns heating system. Throughout the whole of the hire period the owners representative was unhelpful, arrogant, rude and showed absolutely no interest in providing any service whatsoever. We have complained to the owner that we did not consider the barn was fit for purpose and he has apologised and offered us £300 in compensation. We don't consider this is sufficient - does anyone agree?

First of all apologies if I have posted this in the wrong subforum. We are getting married at the end of October in Worcester (we live in Birmingham). We are only getting married in Worcester as I found an amazing deal on Ebay for the wedding breakfast/reception which would've saved us a fortune in comparison with other venues. I won the auction and was over the moon with what we got for the price. Visited venue - Perfect. We then proceeded to book the wedding at a castle in Worcester which wasn't far from the venue, booked the registrar, chair covers, cars etc....all of which have been centered around the venue in Worcester and deposits have been paid. The venue called me last week to say they had some bad news for us, they were closing in September. It is a country pub and basically the brewery have been messing them around by increasing prices etc....so they have ended the lease. They have had to cancel all their weddings. The girl offered us 3 options: 1. We could wait to see if they get a buyer (not a chance - too risky and we don't have the time) 2. Full refund 3. We could transfer the package to their sister hotel, a few miles away. We have already booked the hotel out for the night for guests to stay and it is lovely. The only problem is they can only fit 40 guests in the restaurant for the sit down meal (we have 61!!). So, she said they have a marquee which could be used so we could get everyone in and this sounded like a good idea to us. We went to visit the hotel yesterday and she showed us to the marquee which wasn't how we imagined. It was dirty, the carpet was filthy, the marquee poles on show. It just looked more like a cold plain dirty circus tent if I'm honest. Not suitable for a wedding. The girl got a bit funny with us saying that all the other couples she showed this to have been pleased with it. I would be embarrassed to take guests there tbh. She offered the marquee to us for £500 as they would have to hire a kitchen, staff etc... We really thought they should pay as they have ruined everything for us but they have offered us 18 bottles of wine for the tables as an apology. We expressed our concern about the marquee and she said she will email me this afternoon to see if they can do anything to make it look nicer (drapes, fairy lights etc...). I am basically wondering if we can take this further with anyone? My partner has lost all trust in this venue so if she says she can do something to the marquee, he will not take it as something else could happen down the line. We have been looking at other venues in Worcester and they cost a few thousand pounds. We won this for £512.00 for everything. I don't think we will find anything in Worcs so it is more than likely we will have to cancel and rebook everything in Birmingham which we will lose our deposits for everything. Where do we stand legally? I have no written contract from them, just a receipt and details of the Ebay package. Sorry this is so long xx

My partner and I looked online for wedding rings and found the ones we wanted (plain silver bands) on the H Samuel website we went into the store to have a look at them. We decided to buy them and we were told the store didn't have any in stock but could get them in a week or so we decided that was fine as this was 8th june and our wedding isn't until 3rd july. When we paid for them we were then told it could be up to 3 weeks! we told them we needed the rings by 29th june staff member said that would be fine and they would ring us to let us know when the rings arrived. Today I start getting worried and cos I'm heavily pregnant and my partner was in town He took the receipt and asked in store if the rings had arrived. They said no and rang up dispatch who told them that they had my partners ring in stock but not mine and wouldn't have any till 6th July!!! Being a man my partner hung around town till 5 30 trying to figure out a way to tell me without me going mental (according to him anyway lol). If I were to ring the customer services tomorrow with all reciept details would I be able to get a refund pretty quick? Now that I need to buy rings again I'm very annoyed. My partner didn't ask for a refund while in the store because he didn't just wanted to get out there he was so angry:-x

Hi guys, ill make this brief ( makes for less boring read) and try and make this non confusing.. as much as i can..Ok.. basically.. we book hotel/venue for wedding last year for this august.. hotel was owner then buy "brooks Hotels"..this hotel along with a few others (ive now found out) were then sold off to a sister company (same director) called "albermarle Hotels No.2"Albermarle on the 3rd of may went under..thats it Folks shows over.. wedding dead..thank you ****ing very much!!..heres the crazy bit that ****ing me off.. money was paid to the hotel (White hall in broxted Essex)the recepit they gave me was headed on Brooks hotels paper.. but my bank statement says a different company name called Brompton Hotels ltd.. again the same director of brooks and the ex director of albermarle as he left just after they took over Whitehall i believe..ok questions.. is what theyve done illegal? it sounds like embezzlement??!P.S.. im going through liquidators and claiming debt owed and also my bank in twriting to get visa chargeback on my debit card.Any advice from directors/solicitors or fellow downtrodden parties welcome

:help:ok bit of a long one but this is as brief as i can get it! The hotel we booked to get married at has [edit] form day one, we so badly wanted to get married outside and the hotels we viewed all had beautiful gardens etc, but we needed to be happy with the room if it happened to be bad weather! Ok so we finally found one that we fell in love with, it had been taken over by a company after the previous owners went into liquidation etc, we viewed it at the final stages of re decoration, literally the decorators were packing things up as we were shown around, we asked to see the place we could have the ceremony outside and they said they were due to meet with an interior designer in the week to draw plans etc but showed us where it would be built. We had a year til our wedding so didnt think there would be any issues as were also told they were really making sure the whole hotel was completed in time for wedding season. So we came away, discussed it and a week later put a £800 deposit to secure our date. Ok so moving on a few weeks, we met with the registrar who said she'd seen the plans for the 'gazebo' and it looks stunning etc. Emailed the hotel to discuss food etc and asked about 'gazebo' in a few emails. One of the emails i received stated that the chairman had given confirmation the 'gazebo' would be built in time for our wedding. Ok moving on to about 6/7 weeks prior to wedding we receive another email stating they been having problems with planning so 'gazebo' wont be built in time so as a 'good will' we can have our drinks package for free. Ok now if that had been genuine, i would of accepted the offer. I went to the local planning office and checked............No planning application submitted....... at all! They knew we were relying on the 'gazebo' for our wedding. Ive tried questioning them just to be [edit] further to and finally got the response of 'Not to pursue the planning query any further' Now i dont want to push it too far as we only have a few weeks to go and they know we wont find anywhere at such a late date! What can we do legally? Sorry its long but thats not even half of it! thanks

Hi, I'm new to the forum and need some advice on a recent wedding dress cancellation. I'm getting married next year and in July this year, I chose a beautiful dress at a chain wedding dress shop. I was asked to pay a 20% deposit, which I did on the day. The remaining amount was not due until December and this is written on my contract. Last month however, due to a change in circumstances, I had to cancel the dress. I knew that I would lose the 20% deposit I had made as it was non refundable and the contract clearly states this. I rang,emailed and wrote to the head office in mid September and received a written reply last week (October 19th). The letter stated that the contract was non- cancellable but out of good will they would allow me to break the contract if I paid 50% of the dress. I have looked at the contract I received and see nothing about a non cancellable clause. However, there is a clause stating that 'customers are required to pay a 50% non returnable deposit on the date of ordering..' However, on the date of ordering, I paid 20%, which I believed to be the non refundable deposit and was not told anything about a 50% deposit. I feel a bit frustrated that they have now turned around and said I must pay 50% when on the day the agreed deposit was 20%. It is quite a lot of money (500pounds) which is not an amount I am keen to just throw away! Do I have a leg to stand on with this? I believe that as the deposit was agreed on the day at 20% that this 50% clause becomes irrelevant. However I may be wrong... Advice welcome as I only have a week left to pay before they take legal action!! Thanks in advance:)