Q&A: Wedding Venue: To cancel or not to cancel that is the question?
Question by Jess: Wedding Venue: To cancel or not to cancel that is the question?
My fiance and I are not very religious people. We just recently started going to church. In the summer time we looked at venues, and fell in love with one in Queens called “Charisma Ballroom”. Its big and spacious and offers a lot of amenities. The price we booked it for was for 75 ppl for around $ 3,325; that includes buffet style meals, and california bar, as well as center pieces, balloon arch’s and video montage. What it does not include is the 18% tip, the 8+% tax, nor does it include liquor. They would do the set-up, clean up, have the spot set-up for a ceremony and it came with waiters and a DJ. The deposit we put down on it was $ 400 and since then have paid off an extra $ 1,000. On the contract we signed it states that if we cancel before 120 days of the event date (July 16 2011) that we will be refunded all amounts except the deposit ($ 400) without a cancellation fee. Now here is the problem, the church we started going to has a huge basement. It needs a little paint job and a little wax, so does the chapel, but we are willing to work with them. The church is probably only gonna run us $ 500 to rent both the chapel and basement, $ 600 for the food, and about $ 200 for decorations, and $ 200 for liquor. It would have to be a self serve buffet, and liquor would be bought from a liquor store. It wouldn’t be bar tended drinks, we would need to hook up an ipod to speakers for music. The basement of the church is bigger then the venue, and cost less, but requires more labor, but its closer for mine and his family to get to and it would eliminate the need for a limo, as its not to far from our house. I guess after reading this long detailed story your wondering what the question is, and i guess its whether or not we should cancel our reservation at the venue and lose $ 400 (out of $ 1400) or go with the church that’s probably gonna cost us no more then $ 2000? Keep in mind that the cost for the venue is about $ 3,325 and that’s without liquor/tax/tip.
Sorry if its too much detail just wanted to give enough detail to weigh out the options.
Best answer:
Answer by Blunt
You CANNOT serve liquor at a church!
Also, due to fire code, you cannot have so many people at the same time at a basement, so you may not be able to have 75+ people down there.
Do what you want, but DIY weddings are way too stressful and too much work and you will not be able to enjoy anything. Also, you may be obligated to invite the entire congregation to the wedding, depending of your local customs.
If you can afford it, I would go with the other place, but if money is a concern, go with the basement, but be aware of liquor is likely be prohibited and fire code limitations may NOT allow you to have such a large guest list.
Good luck
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