Is this a normal reception contract???!!!!

[Tiffany1976]

So I just opened the contract for the venue where we ( might ) be having our reception. I thought that it was a little different than whet had been explained to be when I met with the woman who is in charge of events at the Inn where the wedding would take place. Please tell me if this is normal....

1. Food prices are subject to change ( this worries me, because this place has gotten ALOT more expensive in the last few years, so it worries me to sign a contract, because I think it could possibly go up alot...) I thought that when we got the contract, we were locked in with the price we were given, and it wouldn''t go up from there.

2. I was told that the rooms range from 210 -290. The pricing I was give was as follows 8 rooms for 240 ( there is a ++ symbol next to the pricing of each room, indicating that they can go up $50 during "peak times" which I have a feeling they add no matter what.. 2 rooms are 257++ 2 rooms are 277++ Where are the $210 rooms?

3. We would be giving a security for the rooms, which I thought meant that they would hold them to a point, and then rent them out if we had not filled them 1-2 months before, but the contract says that it means that we are responsible for renting EVERY room. If they are no rented, then we have to pay for the room. It also says that if anyone cancels within 1 month of the wedding, we are also responsible for paying for the room. Yikes.

The place is www.befordvillageinn.com and it is very beautiful, but I feel like this contract is a little ridiculous. I even think that 210 is expensive for a room, so to think that they will start at 240 seems a little ridiculous. There are several very reasonable places within 2 miles for people o stay which is great, but I thought that 8 of the rooms could be rented for 210 each. This is a major price difference!

Am I being crazy? I feel like this is a contract that REALLY favors the inn. We were planning on having our wedding on a Sunday as well, because the minimum on a Sunday is less as well. I feel like rooms shold be less than 290-327 on a Sunday. I think I am going to have to look at some other places.... What do you guys think?

 

[SarFarSuperstar]

I''m getting married in Massachusetts, too and my reception contract also said that prices were subject to change without notice. Hopefully they won''t but I know that many places re-evaluate pricing every year or so and may change their prices accordingly.

As far as the rooms, I have no idea- you mean hotel rooms for guests to stay in, correct? I do think it''s sort of weird that you have to put a security down on the rooms- I always thought that I could call a hotel, tell them to block off a certain number of rooms and they would rent those to my guests first, but if I hadn''t filled them by a certain time that the hotel would just give them to other patrons. Making you rent out all the rooms is kind of ridiculous (especially penalizing you for guests who might back out last minute), but maybe since it''s a smaller place they do that to have security.

I would definitely ask if there is a discount offered for filling so many rooms or which rooms are available at the 210 rate. Have you looked at any other reception sites or are you dead set on this one? My fiance and I visited the Sciuate Country Club, which was a beautiful venue (but obviously not a hotel) but farther away from our church than we liked. We''re using the Neighborhood Club in Quincy, which had the most reasonable rates that we encountered.

Hope this helps! Good luck deciding!

 

[Caribou]

Date: 4/7/2006 10:01:41 AM
Author:Tiffany1976
So I just opened the contract for the venue where we ( might ) be having our reception. I thought that it was a little different than whet had been explained to be when I met with the woman who is in charge of events at the Inn where the wedding would take place. Please tell me if this is normal....

1. Food prices are subject to change ( this worries me, because this place has gotten ALOT more expensive in the last few years, so it worries me to sign a contract, because I think it could possibly go up alot...) I thought that when we got the contract, we were locked in with the price we were given, and it wouldn't go up from there.

2. I was told that the rooms range from 210 -290. The pricing I was give was as follows 8 rooms for 240 ( there is a ++ symbol next to the pricing of each room, indicating that they can go up $50 during 'peak times' which I have a feeling they add no matter what.. 2 rooms are 257++ 2 rooms are 277++ Where are the $210 rooms?

3. We would be giving a security for the rooms, which I thought meant that they would hold them to a point, and then rent them out if we had not filled them 1-2 months before, but the contract says that it means that we are responsible for renting EVERY room. If they are no rented, then we have to pay for the room. It also says that if anyone cancels within 1 month of the wedding, we are also responsible for paying for the room. Yikes.

The place is www.befordvillageinn.com and it is very beautiful, but I feel like this contract is a little ridiculous. I even think that 210 is expensive for a room, so to think that they will start at 240 seems a little ridiculous. There are several very reasonable places within 2 miles for people o stay which is great, but I thought that 8 of the rooms could be rented for 210 each. This is a major price difference!

Am I being crazy? I feel like this is a contract that REALLY favors the inn. We were planning on having our wedding on a Sunday as well, because the minimum on a Sunday is less as well. I feel like rooms shold be less than 290-327 on a Sunday. I think I am going to have to look at some other places.... What do you guys think?

The food prices subject to change is in my contract as well. Chances are, the prices won't change or if they do, probably not that much.

If you discussed things with the planner where you having the reception and she stated things that aren't the same in the contract, I would definitly question her about it. Where I'm getting married, I am having the reception outside under a pavilion, if the weather is bad we have a backup room reserved. However, the contract is worded to say that if you book the pavilion they will not reserve a backup room in case of bad weather, so basically you take your chance (it doesn't say that). This concerned me because it's my wedding and we need a back up room so I called my planner at the facililty and questioned it. She said that she worded the contract so that they are reserving the pavilion and our back up room. So definitly question anything you find unusual.

My wedding is on a Sunday too, which is why I think they are being more leniant, so they may make exceptions for you as well.

 

[Tiffany1976]

I think that it is mostly the room thing that I don''t like. Most places do just reserve a block of rooms, and if they don''t fill then, then they just try to rent them to other people. If we sign the contract, we could potentially have to pay $4000 if something happens ie we can''t fill the rooms. Since our budget is so low to start, it just seems reallly crazy. I am glad to hear that the food prices are normal though.

 

[Rebemdee]

Regarding the food part, my contract was also, "subject to change," and went up from $50/plate to $55/plate over the course of a year, due to the cost of salmon. 5 bucks doesn''t seem like a lot, but when you add in per person, plus the additional tax and gratuity, it was more than we anticipated paying. I would advise having a bit of wiggle room in your budget in case that happens.

 

[XChick03]

Date: 4/7/2006 10:25:08 AM
Author: Tiffany1976
I think that it is mostly the room thing that I don''t like. Most places do just reserve a block of rooms, and if they don''t fill then, then they just try to rent them to other people. If we sign the contract, we could potentially have to pay $4000 if something happens ie we can''t fill the rooms. Since our budget is so low to start, it just seems reallly crazy. I am glad to hear that the food prices are normal though.

Yeah, that sounds odd to me also. Usually if you book rooms for a large group, you just pay a deposit to hold them and if you cancel within 24-72 hours, you have to pay a cancellation fee. I''ve never heard of anyone having to pay for the room even if nobody stayed in it.

 

[Tiffany1976]

I looked even more closely at the contract and it does not look good. It says that the rooms rates can be raised as well, and that they charge an extra $50 per room during peak season. The funny thing is, no where does it state when peak season is! That means the rooms could easily start at 300. It also says that they reserver the right to move the wedding to another room. There is only one big room for functions, so the other room would be their restaurant. Also I was told there is no room rental fee, but in the contract it states that if your nember of guests drops below what is estimated on the contract, they may charge you a fee. The funny thing is that I told them 80, and on the contract it says 100! I can''t sign this.......... Tiffany

 

[SarFarSuperstar]

Sounds way sketchy, I would definitely try to iron out more details on a new contract before making a deal with them. You don''t want to end up completely stressed out about the reception- it''s supposed to be fun!

 

[selflove]

My contract had the same verbage about prices subject to change. Well, what a miracle, my plate got put on the lowest priced list so my price actually got reduced by $2pp!

I suggest you just talk to the banquet manager there about the reception room issue and the 80 vs. 100 guests. As for the guest rooms, sounds like it''s written so that they can basically charge your guests whatever they want, and what the guests don''t pay they''ll stick you for the difference. I wouldn''t reserve any rooms there...when you send out the STD cards give them the list of hotel names and phone numbers and encourage the guests make their own reservations ASAP.

My experience with reserving guest rooms was that the hotels would set aside a certain amount of rooms but if they weren''t booked by a certain date, then they''d release the rooms. One hotel wouldn''t set aside rooms. Another one said they''d set them aside but in order to get the discounted rate, 10 rooms had to be reserved for wedding guests (which was a totally confusing policy...you''ll quote one price and then renig on it later??). So guests had 3 choices and I think that was plenty. I think what your place is doing is a bit ridiculous.

 

[aphisiglovessae]

Regarding the rooms, I was told by my friends who have already gotten married, that getting a block of rooms would not be so great if we didn't know for sure whether we could fill them. The reason why is because all the hotels told them (and us) that if we couldn't fill them, then we were responsible for the room rental of the empty rooms. Now, I don't know if this is supposed to be within a certain amount of time before the wedding, or if it was independent of time/date. You'd think they could adjust the block size and release rooms if you let them know a few weeks before the wedding, so I don't think it's independent.

 

[Munchkin]

As others have mentioned, the food price thing is normal.

I would call and find out what exactly is the peak season. Then, I would add it to the contract. Additions can be made by hand provided they are initialed by you and the the inn.

I would also call about the 80 vs. 100 people thing. My reception site in Boston has a minimum dollar amount that we need to spend. If we come in below that minimum amount (which is virtually impossible considering all the stupid things weddings get charged for!) we will still be charged the minimum. I suspect it is the estimated dollar minimum expected for 100 guest plates that make them have that as their person minimum.

I think someone mentioned that your wedding is on a Sunday? Ask them if they will delete the 100 person minimum from the contract. The fact that your wedding is on an "off" day, makes it more likely to get what you want. Again, make sure it is specifically stated in the contract! With the whole Sunday thing in mind again, ask to have wording added that states that you are guaranteed the ballroom barring any natural disaster, electrical failure, etc. That way, the inn feels like it has an "out" if something super bizarre happens, but they can not simply decide to put you in the restaurant. Make sense?

I always feel awkward fighting for contract changes. (There have been interesting studies on how that is more common with women than men, BTW) But, if they can not make these changes for you, then your decision is made. I am a firm believer in "everything happens for a reason." Hey, if I had gotten into my first choice for undergrad, I would not be marrying the wonderful man I am! Perhaps there is an even more perfect place for you out there, or perhaps this contract willl all come together!

Good luck!
Munchkin

 

[RJB]

I agree with some of the above posters. The "contract" they sent you details what they would like you to accept. You definitely can negotiate any clause that you want. Or you can add anything that you want. Since they wrote the "contract" it is certainly slanted to give them the most coverage. You are allowed to go back in and make it a more balanced transaction.
Good luck!