Avenue Banquets

Let me preface this by advising you that the fault was not just the Avenue's but it was our own as well. Brace yourselves, this is a very long and lengthy review but if you want an honest, detailed one and you are thinking of booking your wedding or event here, READ THE FOLLOWING AND YOU MIGHT RECONSIDER: We booked a wedding with the Avenue Banquet Hall on September 29, 2019. We first booked it with the previous owner, Marla Kay. When we had made our booking, everything went fairly smoothly and Marla made it seem like 2000$ for a deposit was a fairly small deposit for booking a wedding date, and she was not wrong. However, she failed to mention the minimum guarantee of 8,000$ meant that even if we were to cancel 6 months before the wedding we were going to be owing 50% of the total (meaning 4,000$ as opposed to the 2,000$ down payment). When we paid the deposit, we received an email on September 29th, 2019, "Congrat's, I am attaching your contract and payment receipt with thanks. I will give you the hard copies when we meet. Looking forward to working with you both Marla Kay." We received an email with the Contract but not with the Terms & Conditions until we met again in person. Although she did scan the paid deposit, she went out of her way to NOT scan the Terms & Conditions, which were on the other side of the Contract. She could and should have easily shared that information with us. Later in the year, Covid-19 struck and Emil and Julia took over the Avenue Banquet Hall. The first thing we received on March 24th, a little after the novel Coronavirus presented itself at large, was an email from Emil and Julia stating that, "All deposits paid are non-refundable. If the event affected is canceled the deposit will be forfeited and cancellation policies, as per contract signed, will apply." This is not something you want to hear about your upcoming wedding and it gave us no reassurance. My fiancee and I could not imagine how everyone else affected must have felt after receiving an email at such a poor time. The following months were difficult and we saw how Emil and Julia were contributing to helping the Front-Line Workers/Food banks. We just wish that they had shown us the same courtesy. It was our fault for being naive to the fact that we should have read over the Terms & Conditions even though we had received it after signing the contract. Especially myself, as I am fairly familiar with legal jargon, but my partner was just excited over the fact that her/our wedding was coming up and I lost my footing as well in the process. In addition, as we attempted to cancel our wedding not only are they keeping the deposit but they threatened to push for the 50% of the remainder for the minimum guarantee of the 8,000$ (2000$ in addition to the already 2000$ deposit they are keeping). If I had seen the Terms & Conditions before signing the contract, I would have never signed the Contract. I would avoid the Avenue at all costs. The owners are very intelligent but very deceptive. You do not want to give power to those who will manipulate you when it comes to your wedding. Especially for all the future grooms out there, they do NOT let you speak and talk over you as they take advantage of your excited Brides to be. Do not let the owners sway you by taking advantage of you through your partner. AND IF YOU DO BOOK - ASK AND READ THE TERMS AND CONDITIONS EXTREMELY CAREFULLY BEFORE YOU BOOK. MAKE SURE YOU EVEN HAVE YOUR LAWYER LOOK OVER IT. We are unable to celebrate our wedding on August 14th, 2020 as most of our family and friends are older and more susceptible to falling ill. Even though Emil was "kind" enough to push the date back to a year and hold the deposit it would technically force us to have to pay the minimum in the future - sneaky, sneaky. Avoid the Avenue, save yourselves a headache. We do not want anyone to go through what we went through. Stay Safe and Keep Healthy during this trying time!