Stressed ain't the word just received contract from venue and everything we...

That's ridiculous, they have to allow you to make it your own surely x

Question it love. My friend hard this issue and it was just a standard contract they'd sent out by mistake. Xxx

We had very similar with our first venue :(. We lost £1000 in our deposit too as we had already signed the contract after being pressured into securing our date. Thankfully our new venue is better than we could have imagined. Really honest about everything and easy going You'll find a better place :) xx

We had that and ended up moving it to a local church and it was perfect!

I would question it . My contract came through with a totally different menu and other bits that wasnt discussed . I changed them . Signed next to it and made a referrence to our meeting and its all as agreed x

Venues are greedy

Wow that's shocking is question it! My
Venue had the option for their flowers & declrations etc the only thing we had to have was their food cos they didn't accept outside catering. I'd make a point of all this not being mentioned when you were shown round xxx

Actually in all seriousness I believe the 'wedding market' needs properly regulating. Vendors believe a wedding is a license to print money. It's been an eye opener for me!

As long as your suppliers are fully insured (and PAT tested if applicable) then your venue shouldn't have an issue. That being said, there are some venues I've come across who will CHARGE non-preferred suppliers to work there. It's not fair on the couples who book at their venue as they should be able to choose who and what they want for their wedding, as long as all is above board.

Seems a bit much to expect you to use all their designated suppliers.
We were given a list of the suppliers they recommend but had free reign on everything except food. I would certainly be questioning this if I was you.

Call them, or go and see them to discuss it. We had the same with the suppliers on our contract and when we talked it through they let us use our own! Just speak to them before making any decisions, especially if it's the dream venue! Also sit down and chill for a while, it's never good to make a snap decision when you're angry and upset! There may be a way! Good luck

Remember your paying them. If they don't want your money they'd be stupid to turn you away because you want your own flowers. Have a chat maybe you can come to some sort of agreement

Where is your venue?

Hi Katherine sorry to hear about that but query it with them before you do anything good luck :)

We paid £500 to secure a date then the hidden extras started rolling in so we cancelled and rebooked with a fantastic venue who cared about us and not the money.

We had that with one of the venues we fell in love with, we were all ready to place our deposit when I read through all hidden things and catering costs which really broke our hearts. I was so disappointed in the venue for not mentioning anything in the contract. But we found somewhere so much better who made our wedding so amazing!

When we received our contract for pur venue there were loads of points on the terms which didn't match what they said...minimum numbers, paying for dj etc. Etc. I wrote and email with the points in and stated what we had discussed at the meetings, they got back to me agreeing to what I had put. I now have this printed with my contracts etc. Make sure everything is settled in writing before signing anything

Can understand the food and booze but not flowers deco etc I would question it before making a decision 

Question it. Good luck x

You can question them about the contract - I used to be a wedding coordinator for a few venues and on occasion there would be a couple who would challenge us on our contracts - we would initially say it is our standard T&C's but if they pushed back again we would have to get our legal team involved. If you have been told something other than what the contract has said bring it up with them (if you have emails or proof that's a plus!). I doubt they will want to lose your business so push back on them! Unfortunately some venues do say you can only use their suppliers - this is generally the case when they have had a lot of issues with outside suppliers in the past, therefore will only allow you to use someone they trust. On the other hand some are greedy - most venues will gain some form of commission for you using their recommended suppliers.

Can't really blame venues being picky - they face getting bad rap if things go wrong - people don't say "I went to ... & that venue dresser was crap" they simply say went to a venue & the wedding was crap