Weddings being cancelled?

[BridalMUA]

Hello All!
I am posting this thread to see if this is a trend happening out here or all over the country. Many of my colleagues (and myself to a certain extent) have been having actual wedding cancellations occurring for the past few months.

I am positive this is due to the current economic situation our nation is facing, but I was wondering if any of you ladies have friends or family members who have made this decision?

While I feel for the ladies who have to cancel their weddings, I have a strict non-refundable deposit clause in my contract, but I know a few of my colleagues who do not and have been suffering because of it.

Would you not also feel that the money these ladies have been losing with vendors who do not refund deposits isn't helping these brides out of a financially draining situation?

I would love to hear of any experiences in this area. Thank you ladies!

Best,

[NovemberGal]

I don't know anyone getting married right now, but I do have to say that sometimes, even if you lose a deposit, if you just can't afford something it's better to cancel. You might be out, say $500 rather than $5000, and while you can see that as "wasting" $500 because you got nothing and you'd have gotten food or whatever for the $5000...if you don't have $5000, you don't have it. And probably better to be out some preliminary work for the amount of the deposit than be out all the money and effort of whatever it was for the big day, and get stiffed because they don't have the money.

[sarah+tim060609]

Wow, canceling your wedding, those poor couples

I don't know anyone that has done it but it could also be that couples are doing a lot more searching after the fact of booking with someone and maybe going the much cheaper route. I know that I have canceled on a lease and lost my deposit because I found another living situation that saved me what I lost and then some. So maybe these couples are booking with people and then something comes up where they don't have the money so they cancel and book with somone else or just leave that part out.
The wedding might still go on but they are probably doing their own hair, makeup, favors, flowers or what ever it might be.

[feb-bride]

When I got married, I actually had to cancel one of my vendors (the DJ) because I had something unforseen come up and I could no longer afford his price. My caterer (who was going to do my food as a wedding gift for just the cost of the food) canceled on me with only five weeks before the wedding, and I had to come up with an additional $1,200 that I had not budgeted for. Invitations had already went out, so I couldn't decide to not serve food.

I was out $100 for the deposit, but I saved $600 by not using him. We ended up using my husband's friend who used to be a professional DJ, and we only had to pay him $200, so we still saved $400 even with losing the deposit. I canceled the restaurant RD and was going to make the rehearsal dinner myself, and that would have saved another $300 or so. My in-laws ended up paying for the RD, and then my dad kicked in some additional money to cover the rest of the food costs.

I realize that the DJ lost out on money that he was planning to earn at my wedding, but I could not worry about that because I was in survival mode. The way I saw it - I would rather feed my guests than worry about one vendor not making money on my wedding. Maybe that's heartless in a vendor's eyes, but I was more worried about the 125+ people who were coming to my wedding and expecting to be fed dinner than I was about a DJ who had not yet done anything for my wedding and made $100 to meet with me for 15 minutes.

[BridalMUA]

I very much see where everyone (and these brides) are coming from. I do feel for these brides, and especially in these trying times where extra money is so difficult to come by.

Thank you for the insight ladies

[AngelRoseFyre]

I had to cancel a wedding once. Not because of the economy, but because the relationship just didn't work out (thank god). It was a bit of a pain not getting some of the money back, but all in all, it was worth not going through the wedding. And now 3 years later, it doesn't even matter anymore.

[carole2233]

That must be very disappointed. I don't want this happen to my friends or myself.