3 Things to Know Before Signing a Contract

Planning a wedding or event is exciting – there’s picking out flowers, tasting cakes, trying on dresses and tuxes, selecting rings, planning a honeymoon…

but when it comes to the nitty gritty of contracts with venues and vendors, all of that fun can come to a screeching halt – especially when there is a large amount of money attached to it.

Contracts are a common and normal part of planning, but they can be confusing and scary.  They may be filled with fine print that may not make sense and terminology that you’ve never heard of, making this part of your planning journey less than appealing.

That’s why we want to share 3 things you should be aware of before signing a contract so you can be mindful of what’s above the dotted line.

1. Attrition

If you are not in the hotel or event industry, you may be unfamiliar with the term, “attrition”.  

This concept can be tricky to understand at first, but it simply comes down to what you “hold” versus what you “pick up” (this is hotel language!) – and specifically adheres to hotel rooms/accommodations.

Let’s break this down a little more…

You have guests that would like to stay at the hotel you are getting married at or one nearby.  You contact the hotel and ask for a special event rate and they provide you one.

Many hotels will hold a complimentary room block (a certain amount of rooms over different nights) at a special guest rate up until around 30 days prior to your wedding or event.  Whatever rooms have not been booked at that time are then released into the general inventory for the hotel to sell and you are not responsible for the rooms that were not booked.

However, some hotels will create a room block and have attrition associated with it.  Typically, this happens when a large number of rooms are needed or required, however, any hotel may have it in their contract.

When you have attrition, you are responsible for paying for a certain amount of unbooked rooms.  For example, if your room block is for 20 rooms on a Saturday night, but only 10 of those rooms are booked, you would be responsible for paying for a certain percentage (typically around 80%) of those unbooked rooms.

This may sound unreasonable for a hotel to require this, but keep in mind a hotel stays in business from the rooms they book and if there are rooms that have been taken out of their general inventory to sell and aren’t booked, they forfeit that money.

We always recommend asking your hotel if your room block requires attrition and what the percentage is if so.  If you have further questions on it, make sure to ask the sales manager to explain until you understand, or preferably, ask a professional wedding planner to assist you.

2. Force Majeure

You’re getting married outside.  In Florida.  In October.  Yep, it’s hurricane season and that’s just one reason to make sure your contract has a force majeure clause – both for vendors and venues.

This part of a contract details what would happen if unforeseen dangerous weather (such as a hurricane or blizzard), natural disaster, Act of God, or anything out of our control that makes the event impossible to take place.  

This may mean that a vendor or venue would cancel and rebook your wedding on a different day with no refund, but rather moving your deposits to another day.  However, it is up to the vendor/venue to explain what would happen in these circumstances and for you to understand where your money would go.

3. Guarantee

You may notice on a catering, cake, venue, or vendor contract that you have to give a “guarantee” of how many guests anywhere from a few days prior to two weeks prior.  

We know, you may be saying that you just don’t know who exactly will be there, but these vendors need to know in order to order and prepare enough food, schedule enough staff, and have enough supplies.

This means that what you guarantee is what you will pay for.  And yes, even if someone doesn’t show up you will more than likely pay for them because the food was ordered and cooked, etc. so keep that in mind when you see an empty seat.

As we mentioned, contracts are not the fluffy side of planning.  They can bring out the sweat-induced nerves of even the most calm of us.

As professional planners in the business for over 20 years, we understand that you may not work with contracts on a daily basis and know how intimidating it can be.  

Our biggest advice?  Take a well-versed and knowledgeable wedding planner with you to your contract signings to ask the details you may miss and to explain to you jargon that’s unfamiliar.  

It could save you in the end.

For help with your contracts and planning in Orlando and Central Florida, please contact me at michele@michelebutlerevents.com or call me at (407) 365-4729.