Reception venue has increased the prices--advice please

[Jas12]

When I booked and placed a large deposit on my reception/ceremony venue (a resort) the wedding planner gave me a cost estimate for the whole wedding based on the wedding package booklet the resort publishes (i.e.cost of each meal, bottle of wine, appetizers etc.). It was understood that my final bill could go up if more people were invited, more food was added etc. or it could go down if say, we drank less, had fewer guest than estimated etc. Makes sense. However, I just had a meeting with the planner and she informed me that the cost per person for a meal has gone up ( by $5 a person), the cost of drinks ($1.00 increase per drink) and the cost of wine has gone up ($4.00 per bottle) since she put together my package quote. Needless to say these are substantial increases when all is said and done! I didn''t say much at the time, b/c i wanted to re-read the contract. Since then I have not found anything that states that the prices are subject to change.
How should I approach this? I have yet to challenge the increases, and the resort may just agree to give me the previously quoted prices, but if they don''t, i am wondering what I can/should do?

Any suggestions?

 

[janinegirly]

if you signed a contract, it should be binding including whatever price quotes were give at the time. i would def dispute.

 

[tanyak]

Hmmm, I think it depends on the venue. We booked in spring 2005 for our August 2006. We signed a contract, but were also told that prices could rise in 2006. We weren''t locked in to the 2005 prices. She did say that if they went up, it was normally between $1 or $2 a person, so that''s what we budgeted for. She sent the new prices in January 2006, and the price was $1 more per person. Not really a huge deal since we only invited 80. Drink costs stayed the same.

Other venues WILL lock in the price. If she didn''t say anything about fluctuating prices when you signed, I would definitely say something.

 

[robbie3982]

If you don''t see anything in the contract about prices fluctuating, DEFINITELY say something. I remember when we were looking at some places they flat out told us this could happen. I honestly can''t remember if it can happen with the place we booked, but I would be really pissed if it happened and no one ever even mentioned it! What''s the point of signing a contract if they can change everything?

 

[dani13]

Re-read the contract. When we signed our contract for our venue, there was a clause they put in there (in very fine print), that basically said that the venue can increase prices based on the comsumer price index...We were like, "What!!??" What is the point of signing a contract then if you cant lock in current prices??? Especially b/c the CPI (basically its inflation) will always increase....It was ridiculous!!

We basically told our venue that if they didnt take that clause out of the contract, we would find somewhere else to have our wedding...they took it out immediately and we locked everything in...

So, that being said, you may have signed the contract not really knowing that they had a clause like this in there. Its unfortunate, if that is the case...that will really force you to make sure that you examine a contract with a fine-tuned comb before you sign it....they can get you every time!!

If you dont see anything like that in there, definitely dispute the increases....that will definitely add up, and if you can avoid it, it will be totally worth it!!

Good luck!!!

 

[Jas12]

Thanks for the advice--i did re-read it very closely and the only ''possible'' price increase that is mentioned in a round-about way is for liquor (it specifies liquor b/c it has to be brought in to the resort-special order and the LCBO may increase costs which translates to higher fees for everyone) so i guess i am stuck with this...however, there is no mention at all of food so iam going to look into this a bit more

thanks ladies