Please note that LEGALLY speaking, these 2 vendors did nothing wrong (we've already had a lawyer review our contracts); HOWEVER, in terms of ethics, customer service, and morale, I feel the need to make this post. I have worked in the restaurant industry and tried to give these businesses the benefit of the doubt, but this didn't sit well with me.
I got engaged on September 23rd, 2019. My now husband (Matt) and I were SO EXCITED to plan our wedding! We decided that we wanted to get married in the Fall of 2020 and eventually decided on a date of September 26th, 2020 at Nostalgia 1720 (Chalfont, PA). During the beginning of our wedding planning process, we were told by the owners of Nostalgia 1720 that we would need to make an initial deposit which was non-refundable in order to hold the date (totally understandable). In addition to this, they told us that their exclusive caterer was Piccolo Trattoria (locations in Doylestown PA, Newtown PA, and Pennington NJ). We got in touch with Piccolo Trattoria and signed a separate contract essentially stating the same thing about our initial deposit being non-refundable (still totally understandable). Matt and I signed everything with a huge smile on our face because, WHAT COULD POSSIBLY GO WRONG?
March 2020 rolled around and the whole world stopped. At this point in time, these restrictions were only meant to be implemented for 2 weeks. Little did we know exactly what we were cut out for.
Policies were changing day-by-day and Nostalgia wasn't in control of them. The restrictions WERE NOT Nostalgia's fault as they were simply following state/federal guidelines. They told me that I could have my wedding there, but it would need to be outside and under a tent (1 wall of the tent would need to be open at all times; even during times of inclement weather), unsure if dancing would be allowed, and bathrooms would be up a flight of stairs, on a hill separate from the tent, with limited amounts of people being able to use them at one time (we invited elderly people who would have difficulty with this; also, this would be an issue in the event of poor weather). The more we thought about this, the more we realized this just wasn't going to work. I quickly emailed Nostalgia and told them that we made the decision to just have the wedding in my parents' backyard. At this point in time, we had given them a second deposit. We also said that we would choose another date in 2021 in case we would want to have a party in the future (I'll get back to this).
I then quickly called Piccolo Trattoria and asked them if they could cater our backyard wedding. In our contract, we wanted to serve our guests a plated, sit-down dinner. The coordinator at Piccolo said that the only way this would be feasible would be for US to pay for an additional tent for the caterers, PLUS all of their kitchen equipment (grill, oven, pans, storage, you name it). She then said that it would "get expensive" to do that. At this point in time, we also had given them a second deposit. I basically told her to forget it and that we would contact her in the future for this later party we would have.
September 26th, 2020 happened and we got married in the backyard of my childhood home. Once the day was over, Matt and I came to the realization that our day was perfect and getting married was all that mattered.
In October of 2020, I told Nostalgia that we no longer wished to have a future party. I was polite (see attached emails) and asked them if they would be willing to give us our second deposit back if that meant they could keep the first one. They said yes ON THE CONDITION that another couple would book their wedding on our rescheduled date at the same, or more, size and we agreed. It is now July of 2021, and we FINALLY just heard back from them after multiple calls and emails that they booked our date for a lesser party size. SO, they took both deposits and did absolutely NOTHING for us.
I proposed the same thing to the caterer: keep the initial deposit and we'll take the second. Their response? Here's a $500 gift card. read more