Hi girls, my friends booked their wedding yesterday and paid, the date they r marrying is supposed to be 27th may next year... Now my friend has been contacted today by the venue saying they now cant have that date as its bank hol mon and have tried to charge them and additional £1000 plus £250 for their room which they were told was complimentry, theyve pretty mch been told change the date or have a refund they booked over phone and signed nothing- where do they stand? Massive thanks!!!!

I'm afraid if they have not signed an agreement to have that date and how much it would cost then they dont really have a leg to stand on. Its one persons word against another. Unfortunately it looks like they will have to change their date, pay up the extra, or get a different venue :( xx

Ive asked her if theyve emailed details etc but havnt heard back yet x

Shes had nothing, no invoice (except this new one with the extra charges) but she did pay in full- does that count? X

This is a real tricky one....I would think if there is no written confirmation/ contract from the hotel detailing the package and securing that date it will be very difficult to make the hotel (legally) stick to it-verbal agreements are incredibly hard to prove, even if cash has been paid as there is no evidence as to what services were agreed to be provided in exchange for the cash . I would suggest your friend thanks the hotel for coming back to them so quickly and politely decline the options of paying additional charges or getting a refund and insist that the hotel provide the services that were verbally agreed and paid for upfront. The best your friend can do is remain calm, insistant and even persist (if they have to) to see if the hotel caves, if they don't it would be incredibly difficult to prove that the booking was for that date. I really hope this hotel does the right thing by your friend, my fingers and toes are crossed! x

Sadly I would say she's going to lose out :( as without a contract they is nothing binding. I'm really surprised they took money without any sort of agreement being signed? X

I agree with Linzi-jo if they are doing to her now what stunts might they pull nearer the wedding when she won't be able to change venues so easily?
My cousin got married a year ago and was having a marquee.She was getting married on the Sunday and another couple were getting married on the Saturday.A month before the wedding the venue contacted her to say that the hire cost for the marquee had doubled as the other couples wedding was off.It turned out that previouslly they were paying the hire cost between them and now they were footing the cost on their own.They had no choice either to pay the extra or move their wedding with only a month to go which wasn't feasable.If that wasn't enough they then came back to them saying that as prices had gone up since they arranged the price they would have to charge them an extra £1000 catering costs.She had a wonderful wedding but it cost her thousands more than she expected.This was a very reputable,prestigious wedding venue and she did have a contract.she also has a solictor as an Uncle but they had covered themselves in the smallprint very cleverly and there was nothing he could do!
I would take my money and run.Find another venue and get the price in black and white.xxx

Like others have said: if there is no paper trail (even just a series of emails confirming what is being paid for) then she is at their mercy. Yes, she can go to the papers and kick and scream and they MIGHT give in... Or they can sue her for slander/libel.

She can ask for her money back, but they may keep some as a non-refundable deposit, which they can be entitled to do depending on the agreement.

What venue is it if I'm allowed to ask? X x

If she hasn't got a written contract, then, as others have said, she doesn't have a leg to stand on. I really do not understand why people hand over sums of money like that without having everything in writing; because we were booking so far in advance, we got EVERYTHING written into our contract, inc room prices (all rooms have to be booked), food and drink items and prices, etc, as we knew that otherwise, they could easily bump up prices nearer the time.

Obviously, it's too late for that in your friend's case; and her options are basically as above: pull out and find another venue (they should give her a refund as, because she hasn't signed a contract, it isn't legally binding; works both ways); change her date; or, stump up the difference if it's her dream venue and make savings elsewhere. She could try arguing with them; my concern with this is it could lead to bad feelings, and they could be difficult to deal with in the future.

Personally, I would be inclined to pull out, as I wouldn't be able to trust them, and feel they've been very disorganised and unprofessional, which would concern me. Weddings are big things, and you want to be working with someone who knows what they're doing, and who you can trust.