Details - Bridal Magazine - Issue 1 - June 2021 Digital

Q & A
with
Alycia Rose
The Wedding Lawyer
Deposits, are they really non-refundable?
Connect with The Wedding Lawyer
www.TheWeddingLawyer.ca
@theweddinglawyerca
As any prudent Lawyer would say, it depends! In the context of wedding vendor contracts, the purpose of your
initial deposit payment is to motivate both parties to fulfill their obligations under the contract. The intention
of a non-refundable deposit in a wedding vendor contract is meant to compensate the vendor in the event the
couple no longer wants to move forward with the vendor’s services. However, as COVID-19 has been the sole
reason why couples and vendors cannot move forward with the contracted services, these deposits are protected
under consumer protection legislation in Ontario and any monies paid, including deposits, should be returned to
the couple immediately upon request.
During this pandemic, what is the most common reason your clients are coming to you for advice?
Most couples come to me after they feel they have exhausted all other avenues of negotiation with their vendors.
Once on board, we attempt to negotiate either a fair and comparable postponement or micro-wedding, negotiate
a deposit return or credit in exchange of a full and final release of the subject contract, or to initiate litigation
against the vendor for failure to return monies paid for non-delivery of services. On a secondary level, we
are here to be an effective liaison between the couple and the vendor to ensure that that emotions aside, this
relationship remains a positive one. After all, these couples are sharing one of the most important days of their
lives with these vendors!
Is there anything that can be done about vendors or venues going out of business?
Unfortunately, there is very little that can be done if a vendor or venue goes bankrupt. However, there are firms
that can assist couples as unsecured creditors in an attempt to retrieve some or all of their deposits. I should
note that if a vendor does go out of business but the corporation remains active, we are still able to pursue them
legally. This is why it is so important to make every attempt to negotiate your monies back, or to agree to partial
services as early as possible – this will ensure that if the event cannot proceed at all, or as originally intended,
couples are at least maximizing their return on their hefty deposits.
When signing new contracts, what are some Do’s and Don’ts?
I cannot stress this enough: do not sign a new contract! There will likely be consequences to signing a new
contract in the midst of a pandemic that may affect a couple’s success rate during the course of litigation.
Furthermore, you want to be careful that no new clauses are added to the contract that don’t also protect the
couple. Lastly, we want to ensure that the couple is receiving similar and comparable dates, accommodations
and pricing as the original contract provided. Overall, the best advice I can give is to contact a legal professional
to negotiate an amendment to the existing contract or to review any new contracts before signing or
making any payments.
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