Choosing a Wedding Venue: Renter or Owner?

You’ve probably heard that there is a recession going on. Those of us providing wedding services have also experienced a direct hit with the shifting of the mood — and with many wedding planning traditions. Couples planning weddings are becoming afraid to plan ahead for fear that the very services and resources they are contracting for (and paying deposits for) will disappear before the big day. Unfortunately, it is a fear that often becomes a reality.

It has become accepted wisdom to plan early and book well ahead of time, especially when it comes to a couple’s choice of venue. However, the shaky economy has claimed many victims, including many owners of buildings and facilities that offered settings for weddings. If a wedding venue occupies a rented space, and the landlord does not or cannot pay the mortgage on the property in question, a wedding venue operator who is completely current on the rent (paid to the landlord, who hasn’t paid the mortgage) can find the door locked on even the most thriving of businesses. It is a scene that is becoming more and more familiar to frantic brides and grooms, and one that is causing couples to be understandably reluctant to tie up precious wedding money in advance deposits, and so forth.

The “pay but no payback” phenomenon is not just peculiar to wedding venues, either. Bridal shops are closing by the dozens, and dresses are being held hostage while wedding dates come and go, and financial messes are sorted out. It is small comfort to a bride to learn that she may eventually get pennies on the dollar back for a dress that she already considered her own, and that clearly was not. Florists, wedding cake bakers, and caterers have also staggered under the realities of the recession.

For the last couple of years, Virginia’s House has offered sympathy and surroundings for couples battered by a variety of unforeseen problems : a venue burned down, another was foreclosed on, and several simply posted “Closed” signs on their doors and turned off the lights. At the risk of sounding somewhat indelicate, we want to say plainly that although we are not immune from forces of nature, we can assure a couple that because we actually own the structure that is Virginia’s House and make the mortgage payments ourselves, you can be assured that the only sign on our door will say, “Welcome.”

You are safe planning your wedding with us, and entrusting us with one of the most important events of your life. When we say “our door is always open,” we mean exactly that.